A few years ago, my husband and I were on a vacation in China when we came across a small restaurant that served the greatest apple crumble that I have ever tasted.  It was made and served fresh, so it had to be ordered an hour before you wanted to eat it.  It may have been that being so far from home made us long for comfort food, but ever since then it has been my goal to duplicate the 'Best Apple Crumble' ever :)

I have a friend who is always doing things with her kids that look incredibly fun - and typically way younger than I would have thought of doing them.  Like when she had her 18 month old decorating cookies at Christmas time... I can't wait for that! 

Anyway, I asked her if she had any ideas for Celia at 9 months, and she suggested finger painting with dyed yogurt.  So here we are!  At first we plopped three different colours in front of her on her high chair tray, and she poked a finger into one but it took her a little while to really get into it.  After a few minutes, however, my crazy little monster started shrieking and going at it like a regular Jackson Pollock. 

We were just hanging out in the kitchen otherwise, and my poor husband got so stressed by the mess she made.  He kept commenting on how he would never have done anything like this with her - and it's a good thing he wasn't a single Dad, because she would never be able to do something like this!  It really was a mess - there was yogurt all over the floor and splattered on the wall behind her.

I promised him I would clean everything up - and I did, except for the odd splatter that I missed and found days later.  Celia was in only a diaper, so no clothing needed to be cleaned, and the high chair was completely washable - the fabric cover was washed overnight and ready the next morning.

We've done this once since (it really is quite a bit of work when house cleaning is a near-impossible task anyway), and although she still enjoyed it, we might not do it again until she understands the concept.  At 10 months old, she knew that yogurt was food and seemed to be more frustrated with how difficult it was to eat than she was interested in playing with it.