At what age...

...is finger-painting appropriate?  I ask because I'm almost certain that 19 months is too early for such a crafty activity.  Right?  I mean, you would have to be C-R-azy to attempt such an artistic event with a person of such midget-y stature.  Who, in their right mind would give their toddler, not yet two, finger paint?!

Puh-shaw.

I really did think she was ready for it.  I even considered putting our play dough mat down on the floor, or moving the easel to the kitchen.  Which is not carpeted.  I thought to myself, "That's silly, I'll be right there with her!  What could possibly go wrong!?"

Ahem.


Let me tell you what could go wrong:


1.  The phone could ring.
2.  In the time it takes you to get from the easel to the phone (4 large steps...I repeat...4 large steps away) you could turn around to find

cobalt blue and yellow paint - on the floor (near a grotesque arrangement of Homer hair.)

And

A large spoon covered from scoop to handle with the same assortment of colors.  Where did she get the spoon? No one knows.  Maybe Homer has a secret stash of all my missing flatware and socks.

Seriously folks.  3 seconds.  three.


3.  Upon realizing all of these items are covered in paint and strewn about, you might shriek "NO!," frighten said finger-painter, which cause here to dive into her blankie, leaving it mottled with yellow and blue as well.

4.  You might then end up covered in paint yourself while wrangling said child up to the tub.

Let me enlarge this a bit so you can see...

5. You might find that in your hurried state to submerge said Sesame into the tub, you failed to see the mass of T.P. deposited on the floor of the tub.  Which, after being soaked, turns into tiny shreds of floating toilet paper.  In the bath tub.  Where you are bathing your daughter.

Awesome.

All in all, the paint was washable and came out of every surface.  Except for Sesame's nose.  I think there's still a fragment of blue hiding up there.