Lazy Weekend

You have to love long weekends – especially when you have no plans, don't go anywhere, and don't do anything in particular! Dad had to work all weekend (yes, even on Labor Day), so Mom and the babies just hung out and had some good play time. Although Max colors with crayons on an almost daily basis, I'd never done any painting with him. So, while Molly was napping (Max refused to nap), I set Max up at the table with a smock, some paper, a plastic tub of wash water, and a little box of water colors. I originally thought about letting Max try some finger painting, but I didn’t have any designated "finger paints" and I really didn't feel like trying to portion out small amounts of paint from the tubs of tempera paint that the big kids have sitting around in their closets. So, I dug up a little watercolor set and let Max go to town.

As I should have expected, Max managed to dump over the wash water within minutes – thankfully it was still clean, so I mopped up the carpet and set the plastic container inside a heavy chili bowl. Problem solved! I had to show him how to dip his brush in the water, move it around in the paint, and then "color" on the paper. He looked like he was taking his painting very seriously and would very carefully dip his brush, smoosh it around in the paint, and then make some nice squiggles on the paper. After a while, he decided to skip the whole brush step – he stuck his hands in the water, stuck his fingers in the paint, and then dragged paint across the paper. So, in effect, he ended up finger painting after all. Eventually even the paint was deemed unnecessary and Max just ended up playing in the wash water. When he started to splash the wash water around, I decided he was done. He was NOT happy when I started packing up the paint supplies and started howling, "Mama, more paint! More paint!"

Here is the finished work of art:


I think that you'll agree that it's absolutely brilliant! ;)

We went for lots of walks and spent a lot of time at the park. Max can climb on the kiddy play structure by himself now (if Mom spots him and hovers nearby to make sure he doesn't do something crazy) and loves to go down the kiddy tornado slide by himself. His favorite thing to do this weekend was to walk around under the playscape – he decided it was his "house" and thought it was fun to walk in and out and putz around. He managed to surprise a squirrel in the park and ran after it excitedly yelling, "It's a dog! It's a bunny! It's a mouse!" before it ran up a tree and far away from little boys. We eventually convinced him it was a squirrel ("quirl") and he’s been pointing them out in the back yard ever since.

Today was the first day back at school for the big kids. They set off to school with all their shiny new school supplies and, although they'd never admit it, I think they're at happy to be back. Last Friday we celebrated the last "official" day of summer vacation by taking a picnic to the park. We ate some food, played some basketball, and chased Max around the playground equipment. It seemed a fitting way to send out the summer and welcome back the school year. Of course, now we're right back into the frenzy of homework and basketball games and school projects -- out of the frying pan and into the fire!