Black Paint, Black Hands

As noted in previous posts, Ethan LOVES working with tools. After we took apart a small book shelf we inherited from some friends that moved, I made a little "work board" for Ethan out of the leftover shelves. Ethan would spend lots of time putting screws or pounding nails into his work board. But, as the work board was made of particle board (read: sawdust and glue), it did not survive long. AND it was hard to get screws to really dig into it. SO, when we were having a cook out with our friends Emma and Tommy (who happens to be a wood worker), I picked up a few scraps of pine from their porch for Ethan to work with. A few days later (when he finally had the chance to dig in) he was focused like a laser beam (thanks Mark Minnett for the phrase) for about 45 minutes painting on of the scraps black. He did an amazing job, and was pretty proud of himself -- I was, too.

Sure, he was excited about the board, but he was REALLY excited about his nearly all black hands. He insisted I take a picture of them.