If I need a moment to get something done in the kitchen and I've already given the kids all of the snacks and beverages that a child can safely consume, I pull out the paints and let them make a mess.  The other night after I came home from work, I didn't want to give them any snacks because then they wouldn't eat any dinner, but I needed a minute to empty the dishwasher and get things going for dinner.  Sophie suggested that they make some art and I thought it was a great idea, maybe it would give me just the time I needed.  Usually this is one of the most chaotic times of the day - everyone is hungry and the changing of the guard (meaning from the nanny to me) throws things a bit out of whack.  But this night, they were both calm as I handed out paper and brushes, filled containers with paint and gave them jars of water.

Sophie painted delicate little spots, refusing to have any brown paint in her bowl.  She was calm, and lovely, and quiet and deliberate.


Martin must have been inspired by Sophie, and quietly painted his bowl.  He talked to me, telling me about the hat he was making and about how important it is to get paint on all the edges.  He was chatty and still and filled with concentration and a plan.


Here's a video of Sophie painting.  It's so calm that I think it has potential to replace the burning log or fish swimming in an aquarium channels on tv.

All of this lasted for about 10 minutes.  Long enough for me to empty the dishwasher and start something for dinner.  Then, a wind swept through our house.  A wind that carried out all of the calm and swept in some chaos.  Brushes were whipped to the floor.  Paint bowls dumped on their sides.  Water containers emptied on shirts.  And the kids were gone, running through the house with paint on their hands and trouble on their mind.  I would have taken a video of that too, but my head was buried deep in the fridge as I looked to see if there was a bottle of beer stuck back there behind containers of food from long ago.