Messy the Turtle (and Art Class)

Lola tried a new art class yesterday afternoon, called Messy Jam, which I think she quite enjoyed.

The girl loves messy play, so I was pretty surprised that she somehow knew that this was not food.  She managed to smear the paint all over her hands, apron, face, pants and socks, but she did not eat it.

I hinted at a turtle in my previous post.  Well, drum roll.... Lola made a new friend, Messy!  She loved him!  She chased him all around the studio, stroked his shell, painted him, tried to feed him broccoli, and then tried to grab his head (the poor guy pulled his head in and refused to emerge while Lola was around).  I was a bit aghast but the art teacher reassured me that Messy is very used to this kind of aggressive loving from all of her toddler kids, and he gets multiple baths a day.

Anyway, Lola painted her first "masterpiece" during class, which Michael is just waiting to dry before he hangs in his office.

Lola started off pretty clean.

 And then she went to town, wheeeee!  The teacher would dribble paint directly onto her hands, and Lola knew to reach out for it.

 Without a doubt, though, her favorite part was Messy the turtle.  Something about having a slow, calm little creature at her level seemed to really appeal to her.  It was very sweet (though I'm not sure Messy felt that way).

This look says, "Pretty please, may I have a turtle?!"