painting

I don't know if it's just in our house, but once 4:30 hits, Emma loses it.  She wants a snack, no you can't have a snack, we're having dinner soon.  She doesn't want to play with anything, and everything becomes a battle.  TV does help at times, but I hate plopping her in front of the TV when I haven't seen her all day.  And when I try to get dinner ready, half the time she hangs on my legs whining and crying.  (Just to clear it up, she does get a snack at the baby-sitter's after her nap AND I sometimes give her a few grapes or something when we get home around 4, so she isn't hungry.)

So I bought her this Mickey Mouse paint book, where the paint is in the paper and all she has to do is rub a wet paintbrush around to paint.  (Hence, no mess, if you don't count wiping up the water cup that spilt twice.)  She was a little obsessive painting the same spot again and again, so we ended up with wet, soggy painting and a few holes.  But it really was a savior, because she happily painted for almost a half-hour.  I loved the faces she made when concentrating!