Two Toddlers Destined To Dye Things Pink! By Things, I Mean My Kitchen Floor!

Yesterday was egg dying day in the Townsend household. We had planned to do it later in the evening because David had stayed up all night Thursday night in preparation for his overnight shifts on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The day was going to be filled with quiet play with a little bit of silliness sprinkled in. By quiet play I mean two kids running, screaming and laughing while the third sits in my lap adding his own squeals of excitement followed by his new found interest and talent for blowing raspberries. Good thing David is a pretty hard sleeper when it comes to these three. However, at 11AM, my SIL called because she had just learned from our family friend/neighbor/her co-worker that Ethan is on Easter break. She decided that she and Makayla (my adorable 18 month old niece) would head on out to dye their collection of eggs. This, of course, thrilled Ethan. Claire didn't really get it. She did get it once Kim and Makayla walked in the door. This caused crying from Claire, followed by crying from Makayla. Snacks were doled out in an attempt to calm the storm. This led to a fight over sharing said snacks between the girls. The calm came when Claire hopped on her princess ride on toy and started honking the horn while wheeling herself around the kitchen while Makayla watched, mesmerized. These two are destined to be best friends. Kim even said she can't wait until their old enough to be spending the night at each others houses and we're breaking up fights over clothes.
After a bit of chit chat while Kim finished boiling a set of eggs, we finally spread out our newspaper, put some dye together and set to getting our dye on. As we set out the cups, Claire tried to drink them. It's non-toxic, but I don't think she'd like the vinegar. It's not much, but it's pretty strong. I was able to keep her away long enough for the cups to get set out and the dye tablets dropped in. Then, there were three set of eyes staring into the cups while Kim and I snapped pictures. We got the eggs down, looked into the cups and saw all the dye was ready, except the pink. It just wouldn't dissolve. We ended up smashing it as best we could with a spoon and mixing it up. Ahhhh...Finally ready. We set the pink down, and opened up a carton of eggs, where Makayla reached and promptly...SPILLED THE PINK DYE!!

(The aftermath of Makayla's pink spill.)

We were like, "Eh..It's fine. There's still some tablet." We were able refill it and save the day since the pink was just not willing to go. Makayla reached into the carton, grabbed two eggs, looked at them and SLAMMED them together. This prompted Claire to reach into the carton, grab and egg and test her strength on it by squeezing it until it was unrecognizable. After they ruined three eggs, we were finally able to get everyone down to business.

(Finally getting their dye on!)

They did a great job. Makayla was a pro though. If you weren't fast enough getting an egg in a different color, Makayla was on it. She'd snatch an egg and throw it in the color without even waiting for you to get to it. You snooze you loose in the eyes of a toddler. As we were nearing the end of our egg dying adventure, Claire was finally getting the hang of the dying. She was super excited. She reached for an egg and SPILLED THE PINK DYE!(The aftermath of Claire's pink spill.)

Yeah, Claire was pretty colorful. She managed not to get any dye on her clothes, but did wipe her hands all over her face and arms. Surprisingly, it cleaned up pretty easily. However, my kitchen floor has a slight pink tint to it. It's OK though. I think with a few mops it should be back to it's normal, beat up self.

All in all, it was a super fun time. We ended up dying our eggs later that night with David, but I'll post about that tomorrow.

And, if you're wondering why no pictures of Makayla, well, I'd rather not post her pictures without her parent's permission. She isn't my daughter after all.