painting a pumpkin, eating a paintbrush

i let eva paint her pumpkin the other day. i thought i would let lily paint her first picture too. things like this really stretch me. it kind of freaks me out to allow the girls to make a mess painting, over carpet, with paint all over their hands, on their clothes (or in eva's case paint on her recreational ballet outfit), mixing paint colors, etc.

i just tell myself they will wash, their clothes will wash, breathe danielle!, close your eyes danielle!

and of course i look over and lily is sucking on a paintbrush. with paint on it. my reaction was twofold:
1. yell "lily, get that out of your mouth!"
2. cross my fingers that it was non-toxic paint. so far so good. i think.

when i asked eva if she wanted to paint her pumpkin i was thinking she would want to paint a face on it or something cute. she thought painting a pumpkin meant covering its original orange color.

whatever. she's nearly 5 and a creative genius. who am i to stop her?