Oct. 5 - Canvases, and Acrylics, and Elephants - Oh My!

 I got it in my head that we should do an art project together this afternoon as a family.  I had gotten the idea somewhere of cutting a shape out of paper, taping it to a canvas, and letting your kiddo paint like crazy all over it.  Then, when you peel the shape off, there is the white shape left behind.  Well, it started out all fine and dandy, but there is a reason you don't usually let an obstinate almost two year old use acrylic paints.....or maybe even paints at all.  Griffin has been going through a...."difficult" phase lately, and we got about halfway through the project before it became a total fiasco [think acrylic paint in hair, screaming "no", beating on the canvas, chewing on the paint-covered brush, multiple crying fits, etc.]  Ah, well.  I do know better.  It's a lesson learned pretty early on in motherhood:  Don't set your mind on having anything done a certain way or done at all.  Especially don't expect things to go smoothly, without trial.  It just doesn't happen much, and I need to learn to let go of words like "easy" and "smooth" because I just end up getting frustrated when I go into things with those expectations.  Anyway, I can't say we got a ton of enjoyment out of the actual project, but I love how it turned out!  We decided on an elephant for the shape.

 After Griffin had had his way with the paints, I filled in some of the blank spaces.  Once it had dried, it was time to peel off the elephant.

 Clearly, Mr. Elephant needed a bit of...help.  He was looking slightly amorphous.

 So, obviously, I made a cup of tea first.  Then, I sat down with the white paint to clarify things a bit.

 Cranky toddler in bed, happy apple cinnamon tea mama with said cranky toddler's work.

Motherhood ain't pretty some days.  Some days it doesn't look too hot on me.  When I look at this painting, there's no delusion...It wasn't pretty painting it together with my son.  Smudging, hitting, drooling, kicking, yelling, crying, flailing.  But the paint dried, and I came back over the rough edges to smooth them, filled in the empty spaces, and completing what we started together.  Isn't that motherhood, in a nutshell?  I think we are quite the unruly toddlers in how we act in life, toward others and toward God sometimes.  I'm so thankful that I have a Father who comes back over the rough edges to smooth them, who fills in the empty spaces, and who completes what He started in me.