The Little Painted Girl

We went down to the paint store today to pick some samples for our living room, which we're painting some as-yet-to-be-decided shade of yellow. There was a little girl there with her mom, and Liam fell in love immediately. The girl was about five or six, and was just cute as a button. Judging by the multiple colors of paint on her T-shirt, she had been helping her mom paint some big project. Liam couldn't take his eyes off of her, and talked about her constantly for the rest of the afternoon. It was truly a case of love at first sight.

Fast-forward several hours to right before dinner, when Liam and I were outside playing with sidewalk paint on the driveway. Liam continued the conversation about the little girl. Where did Little Painted Girl go? Could she come over to play? Would she like Casey? Most importantly, does she like chocolate?

And then came this statement:

"Little Painted Girl's not here, but Baby Duck can pretend to be the Little Painted Girl!"

With that, he began smearing sidewalk paint of various colors across his shirt and pants. And dribbling it on his shoes. Did I mention that right before we went to the paint store we went to Stride-Rite and bought these? No? Well, we did. And yes, they were worn home. And no, it doesn't seem that sidewalk paint washes out of clothing or off of shoes any too easily.

Ah, well, I guess if the paint doesn't come out in the wash, Liam can pretend to be Little Painted Girl every time he wears today's outfit. And the shoes will be a reminder of his first crush.

Update: Liam's having a hard time sleeping tonight what with this stinky cold he picked up a few days ago. He's snorting and snuffling and rolling around. A few minutes ago he woke up, and I told him I'm sorry he feels so yucky. The answer?

"Baby Duck's nose is not too happy. But Baby Duck loves the Little Painted Girl and he's all happy now. Night-night, Mommy."