This year I wanted to do something special for Walter for Father's Day now that Padon is old enough to express himself and I can more easily manipulate him into creating Father's day projects. And luckily for me Padon was receptive to my creative juices and we made a rock star gift!
We stopped by the Ben Franklin craft store in Monroe as we were passing by and grabbed a white T-shirt for a screaming $2.75 deal the morning of Father's Day. Walter was out at a Bachelor Party but I didn't know when he was coming home and we were on borrowed time.
We got home and I quickly grabbed my acrylic paints, my paint tray, a good brush, the shirt and stripped us both down to diaper and underwear in the back yard. Thank goodness for a large yard. And the fun began. I painted Padon all over his front in a rainbow of colors.
At first Padon started saying "No, no...." but then was all about the paint brush and I kept telling him to wait just one second as he kept trying to grab the brush. I was moving as fast as I could and slapping it on. Padon just kind of watched me and let me brush it on his hands and face. I think a little bird in me was thinking, "ha, baby you're getting a little taste of what your Mother is like and how your life is going to continue to be like in the future." I'm all about painting babies for a fabulous art project and gift.
As soon as I had him well coated and I had the shirt on and well situated I said, "ok, baby, give me a hug, quick!" And it was like he knew exactly what I wanted and hugged me around my torso. I picked him up and made sure to press his head, torso, and legs in a good stamp on my front and he gave me the perfect amount of pressure with his arms. I then peeled him off and gingerly stripped the shirt off so I could lay it down on the adirondack on the deck. I love acrylics cause I knew the shirt would be totally dry in a matter of hours and hopefully in time for Walter to get home.
I then grabbed the Father's Day card I had bought for Walter on behalf of Padon and recorded on its recorder Padon's excited chatter about what we had done. It was hard because I couldn't get Padon to leave the card alone but in the end I got the cutest little sound bite.
I snapped a picture of Padon, threw him in the bathtub careful to block the drain from paint debris (acrylic just crumbles off skin) and scrubbed him down which he was totally cool with. (His skin dyed blue where blue paint had been. Again this made me feel proud for some reason). Redressed we then dashed off to RiteAid to print the picture out so I could give Walter the in progress picture of his most cool gift.
In the end the timing was perfect. Walter came home two hours after when I thought he would and the shirt (completely dried) and picture (framed) were all wrapped. He opened it and just started to laugh. He thought it was the coolest present ever.
And a cool tidbit to the whole project is we have a rainbow of paint splotches on the back deck that Walter and I really like and two small two year old hand prints where Padon climbed up on the larger of the two back decks. It will be sad when they fade away. It kind of makes me feel more like this is my house. 
1 comment:
That shirt turned out so cool!
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