Knox’s 1 Painting – 1st Birthday Tradition

A little tradition that we have in the Alfino household is that when you turn 1, you get some finger paint, a canvas and all the patience and support that your usually unwilling for mess parents can spare.

It worked out pretty well when Kyla turned one (she only ate a little bit of it, but mostly loved doing it), a little less well when Riya turned one  (we considered calling poison control because she put so much in her mouth, she cried when she realised that she was getting dirty and also most of the paint that she used was quite solidified which made it difficult to do) and um, possible better now that Knox finally turned one.  Sort of.

Like most things these last couple of months, it happened quite a long time after his birthday, but technically he is still 1 so it still counts.

At first he was super keen…

But he quickly lost interest when he was kind of forced to realise that he needed to do more than just put his finger in it…

Actually he pretty much lost it.  He was totally inconsolable.  He hates anything cold touching him (even now that the weather is so hot, he has to wear socks or he won’t crawl around, although he does this funny crawl thing where he makes sure that his feet don’t touch the floor – hilarious until he can’t take it anymore and then freaks out) and even though it was only touching his hands he just couldn’t deal with it.

Even though he didn’t really get into it and really paint it properly as such, I think the end result looked quite cool.  And once he was able to stop and warm up, he was pretty chuffed with himself too.  (And ooooh, those legs and arms – just edible I tell you!)

I just love this tradition and how even though it’s so basic and abstract, it is so perfectly representative of their personalities.  I don’t even mind that I got covered with paint again (after going to the Colour Me Crazy Festival the day before).

This is what it looked like while it was still drying (the colours look a bit weird, I think it was because I took the pictures outside – sorry):

This is the end result, up in our house alongside his sisters works of art.

And, this will be the last time that we have a one year old painting to do…  A tradition that has come full circle I suppose.  Sad, but I am definitely not crazy enough to do it all again.

I think.

 

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