{Behind the Scenes} From yes to no more

“Hey, Mom, where are those paint sticks?”

Clearly we don’t paint much.

But I decided to say “yes” last week when Cate asked if they could paint. I gave them each a Styrofoam plate with five paint choices, three paint brushes and a cup of water. See those colors on the top of each of the pages? Those are watercolors that neither wanted to use. Ben was just following Cate’s lead with that choice.

See that black patch Ben is intently painting? Not too many moments later, his entire page was his self-mixed black. The whole page. So I got him a new page, which this time didn’t have a picture because clearly that wasn’t important to him.

And before he filled his second page with his red-and-yellow-and-blue-and white-and-green-make-black paint, he used his brush to slap a huge glob of his creation on Cate’s more meticulous-painted picture. Cate is a creative girl who carries a notebook and colors with her most everywhere, so this was an offensive violation of her personal, artistic space.

“Ben, you’re done painting because you couldn’t respect Cate’s space.”

Trust me, I know little brothers are bound to overstep boundaries and sometimes big sisters just need to get over it, but the black paint bomb was rude and we’re in that continual your-actions-have-consequences training mode.

Cate got a new paper and Ben went to his room, clearly mad at me. I decided it was just as well he regroup. But then I didn’t hear from him for 20 minutes, so I went to check on him. I found him asleep in his bed. And he stayed that way through lunch, without wetting his bed even though he wasn’t wearing a Pull-Up, for a couple hours.

Yes, it started with a picture of my kids sitting on their own half of the kitchen table, painting with those sticks, but it ended for Ben when he painted way too far outside the lines and onto Cate’s page. I was the “yes” mom and then had to be the “no more” mom. But I managed to come out with some lovely paintings on the refrigerator and the pleasant aftermath that follows a much-needed nap.

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Today I’m participating in “Behind the Scenes,” linking up with Crystal Stine. I love the encouragement to share real life happening beyond what a photo shared on Facebook captures. Yet another way for this momma to embrace imperfection. 

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