Imperfectly Perfect

We get really messy around here.  We went through 3 outfits yesterday.  First outfit was done in by chocolate pudding.  The second outfit had a combination of fresh-picked strawberry juice and green smoothie mixture all over it.  Messes don't scare me, but every once in a while (like when I'm doing laundry) I wonder if these messes are worth it.  And then I remember this face...

The picture isn't perfect.  In fact it would take a lot of talent to photoshop all of the imperfections out of this photo (hello cloning tool and healing brush)! I took this photo to capture the catch light in her eyes.  When I went to edit it at first I thought, aw man...look at all that messy face and wispy hair.  But now I love it!  It shows how we truly spend our imperfectly perfect days!
Allowing messes is exactly what Maddie needs.  She needs to feel her food with her fingers so she will know what the texture feels like when she puts it in her mouth.  She needs to pick her own strawberries and if some of the juices run down her little chin and onto her dress because she's put so many in her mouth, she's learning where our food comes from, how tasty strawberries are, and exactly how many will fit in her mouth!
We also made play dough yesterday.  We began with three beautiful spring colors that looked like this...

And when Maddie was finished playing it looked like this...

Did anyone ever tell you not to mix the colors?  I remember being told that too!  

But I consider this imperfectly perfect.  Maddie is learning what happens when we mix colors...the tones change a little, and maybe she finds that more interesting and pretty!  She's learning how to create and be her own individual.  

We had lots of fun with sticks...notice the play dough remnants in her finger?  Imperfectly perfect.

We also had TONS of fun with our ball...nothing imperfect about that grin and giggle!!