Two snow days ago, Annie was smart and pulled out a tub of air-dry clay that she had stashed away for just such an event. It kept Lyd occupied for a solid hour, which was incredible.
From the clay, Lyd made medals for us. Annie got a heart, engraved on it was a fusion of her two names “Ann” plus “Mom”, “Aom”. Then she made a star and did the same thing for me, “Brooks” plus “Dad”…
Yeah, that’s great Sweetie!

This morning she announced that she wanted to paint the items she molded on that snow day. Uh…Snow Day? Clay?
“The Sculptures are stashed next to the Toaster Oven.”
“Thank typy (backspace, stupid auto-correct) YOU Hun!” (send) Okay, toaster oven toaster oven, there they are! Now where to paint? There was only one place she could feasibly paint without Reggie messing it up for her, the kitchen table. I frowned. The last time she painted at the kitchen table there was a spill. I had newspaper down, but by the time I got to the spill the paint had soaked through the newspaper and glued the paper to the surface of the table. It was an irritating job to clean up and I still sneer when my eyes happen to see that spot. No one else can see it, but I see it clearly, it still gets me angry.
I could stand over her and catch the next spill or careless brush stroke, but I’ve got a toddler to keep at bay, and it pretty much renders the idea of Lyd doing her thing and staying out of my hair moot.
I began scanning the kitchen, not even acknowledging that bundle of newspaper in the corner. I began thinking about Chick-fil-A, those adhesive plastic place mats for little ones, the ones that can be thrown out in a bundle afterward—that’s it! Where’s the Saran Wrap? Sure, it’s pricier than good old-fashioned newspaper, but it’s a lot cheaper than what I would have charged (IF I got paid) to clean up the paint mess from last time.

Two overlapping strips were laid down on the table and I began scotch-taping the whole thing down but not before I remembered a little trick I learned from working backstage, a little thing we call “courtesy tabs” (I suppose civilians call them “starter tabs”) where one end gets doubled back on itself, creating a tab to grab and make tape removal easier.

Saran Wrap is liquid-proof, the paint won’t soak through, I can leave Lydia alone to be artistic, I can stay in the Living Room to play with Reggie, read to her, keep her from breaking Lyd’s stuff. It didn’t turn out quite that way, Lyd is surprisingly high maintenance and needy when she’s painting, a couple times she ended up having to wait while I finished reading a cardboard book to Reggie.
As I anticipated, Lyd, being six, was not as careful as she should have been and some messes were made, not that I was worried.

When she was finished, I bundled up the whole thing including the paper plate pallet, and a couple random paper towels into the saran wrap and threw the whole thing into the garbage.

I am absolutely certain that I am not the first person to come up with this idea, but I pretty much came up with it on my own, so in my own head it feels original. Feel free to shower me with compliments.
Yay me! A hack that worked!