Body Painting by Picasso and a Mercurial Girl

I have found that Henry is Picasso with food. For example, I gave him yogurt today and he promptly painted the table with it, then his belly, legs and arms, and then the floor. He got it nice and goopy and then squished his bare feet in it and tried to ice skate.
Later, he tried to shove his stuffed bear’s face into his macaroni and cheese, covering its fur in slime. I took the bear away and washed it with soap and water while Henry dragged his little chair over to the stove so he would have somewhere to stand while he played with the burners. I helped him off his chair and put the chair away while he walked over to Annabelle and smacked her.
“Don’t hit, Henry. You can high five me,” she said, giving him high five. “You can give me rocks,” she said, tapping his fist with her own. “But no hitting.” I don’t konw where a three- year-old learned to re-direct a one-year-old, but I was delighted.
“Annabelle! What a great job of helping Henry learn. He doesn’t want to hurt you, he wants to connect with you, so high five and rocks are perfect!”
It wasn’t long, however, before she had a complete meltdown. It had been a while since lunch and hunger crept up on her and I tried to get her to eat but she was too busy howling. She made her own secret cubby behind the door in the hallway. I slipped a package of scooby snacks through the crack in the door to her and I heard the crackle of paper as she munched away. “Do you want a yogurt?” I whispered. She nodded and I slipped it to her with a spoon and she ate that too. “Mom,” she whispered when I came to pick up the empty container, “I’m going to come out in a few minutes but I don’t want you to be scared. I’m going to be very still like a statue, but don’t worry, I’m a real girl.”
A few minutes later she emerged and held very still. I screamed in terror and she was delighted. She climbed on her new plasma car, courtesy of her adoring and wonderful grandmother Grantine, and propelled herself down the hallway at breakneck speed, her hair flying behind her. That’s my mercurial girl.
Henry ran down the hallway behind her, also screaming with delight. He was followed by their two-year-old friend Atticus, also screaming. It was triumph of the munchkins around here. Who knew three tiny people could fill the house with so much?