Painting with Pudding

Lately I have been feeling a little blah. It's cold, snowy and dark outside. Hailey and I are cooped up inside most days, with a lack of variability in our day to day activities. And I'm suffering from a lack of motivation to get things done.

At least this is what it feels like to me.

We do some fun things, like going grocery shopping (insert here: a very unenthusiastic "yah".) Fridays are good days, well, mornings. That is our library day... and recently we've been trying to drag it out as long as we can, like by going to three story times in a row. Anyway... there aren't a lot of different things that I have come up with to do with Hailey.

I feel like Hailey is in a little bit of a limbo stage. She's starting to move out of baby-ness and becoming more toddler-like. She no longer sleeps all day, or is immobile. She's constantly on-the-go, with one or two naps a day. She understands a lot of what I say, and is super curious about everything around her- she's constantly getting into something. There's a whole lot more that we can do together now, than we could do before. We read books and she interacts with me and enthusiastically lets me know that there is a banana on the current page. She tells me when she is hungry or wants a drink. She points out that her doll is a baby, and roars when she sees her dinosaur. This kid is now super interactive. Great! But she doesn't understand coloring, she's not old enough to help me point out shapes and letters, her interest in cooking is solely eating, not in helping with the food preparation... There are so many fun things I want to do with Hailey, but she's just not there yet.

Don't get me wrong. I love the stage she's in. I love how much fun I have chasing her around the house, speed reading books with her (I say this because actual reading doesn't happen, turning pages does), and pretending to eat her food that she so generously offers me.

But sometimes, err... a lot of the time, I wish there was more we could do together. So, recently I've been searching for fun and crafty things I can do with Hailey. And there's not really a whole lot, besides what we already do.

Except for painting with pudding. Which we tried out this afternoon.

Wait. Wasn't it painting with pudding? Painting, eating... what's the difference? There isn't any with Hailey. Really, should I be so surprised? No. I don't think so.

A mess was made. 

A really BIG mess.

 A bath was required. 

Followed by lots and lots of clean up in the kitchen. Was it worth it? Most definitely. Will we do it again? You betcha.

Do I wish Hailey was older? Sometimes- for selfish, I'm sick of being bored, reasons. Do I really want her to be older? No way! Not when we can have this much fun, making this big of a mess, with chocolate- and get away with it.

I'll keep my Hailey as she is, thank you very much. Now winter, that's another story.