Foot painting

This afternoon, Minty was enjoying the sunshine in the backyard, while I did a spot of sewing inside.  I was just beginning to make some real progress when there was a knock at the door.  It was Minty, 'muum, can you get me some paper?  I'm going to do some footprint painting!'

My first instinct was to say no.  I wasn't really in the mood to have to clean up a painting project.  But then I stopped myself.  This is exactly the kind of creativity I've been hoping to inspire in Minty.  I don't want to be the kind of parent who is always deflating the fun out of her ideas with my adult abhorrence for mess.  And I had to admit, footprint painting sounded like awesome fun (why hadn't I thought of it?!)

So I dropped what I was doing and found her the supplies for her art project.  She spent the next hour squelching around making paintings with her feet and dotting intricate polka dot patterns on the page with her fingers.  I didn't take any photos, I just tried to be present with her in the moment.

Today's photos are from my mum's birthday last weekend.  They've been trapped on my flash card since the computer I use for downloading decided to show me it's blue screen of death last week.  So a belated happy birthday to my wonderful mum!  And just in case you're wondering, no I didn't secretly pop out another baby, that is my cutie niece Lily!