Noticing Change through Fingerpainting

Remember us chanting the following in regards to a happy Annie? "I'm a mess! I'm a mess! I'm a big ol' messy mess!" Well, today I thought I would give my little mess-loving-Annie a real treat and get out the fingerpaints. So, we prepared to get downright messy! But it didn't take but a few seconds for me to realize that Annie suddenly wasn't thrilled with messes anymore. I was SO surprised by this! She HATED this activity, had no interest in what pictures the paint was making, and began frantically rubbing her hands and arms desperately trying to get rid of this disgusting, slimy paint that her mean Mamma made her play with! Ha! Her reaction reminded me of Leia's first reaction to fingerpainting (which was almost identical). And it also made me realize that we don't really have a mess-loving-Annie anymore. (Daddy says that's a good thing! ; ) but Mamma's not sure whether to be happy or sad about it.) ; ) I have noticed lately that Annie makes a real effort to put things "back where they go" after playing with them. More significantly, Annie looks at meal-time messes now as a necessary evil in order to shovel food in the fastest way (i.e. "Forks are for Suckers"). And sometimes Annie even frantically rubs her (cheesy/foody) hands and arms the same way she did with the fingerpaint today. Something tells me that all eating-with-fingers will soon be a thing of the past. Anyway, these two pictures do a good job capturing Annie's frustration and exasperation in regards to her fingerpainting experience: