Washable Paint - A Bright Idea

The kids' preschool sends home lots of paintings.  I have a love-hate relationship with the paintings.  I appreciate that the kids get to paint and be creative.  But over the years (including Elliot's preschool years), I've ruined clothes, driven home with paint covered hands, combed paint out of hair, scrubbed paint out from under finger nails and experienced accidental interior painting of my van.  Avery likes to use LOTS of paint on hers.  My wisdom gained from experience has taught me to leave them at school to dry and pick them up the next day. 

Today, Ethan and Avery painted beautiful pictures of a circle sun glued to a paper background.  For some reason, it didn't occur to me to leave them.  I placed the pictures back-to-back, so that I could carry them with one hand to free up the other for the doors.  As one door opens, Avery's sun falls off the background and onto the floor upside down.  Dang!  I get it picked up and carefully placed onto its background, rearrange the pictures so that I was carrying them horizontally (evidently vertical was not the way to go).  Then, I realize that Ethan's sun is missing.  It, too, hit the floor upside down.

The three of us navigate successfully to the van, I hand Avery's painting over to her so I can unlock the door.  The kids climb in their seats and I place the paintings on the floor.  When we arrive home, before I'm out of my seat, Avery has unbuckled herself and jumped out of her seat - right onto her sun!  I get her back in her seat, out of her shoes, empty paintings, toys, kids, groceries, purse out of the van.  After lunch, I commence wiping the paint off of Avery's shoes.  With a wet paper towel, it wipes off without a hitch and I think to myself how happy I am the preschool uses washable paint.

Then, the light bulb goes off!  I've been walking around for two years with blue and red paint on the end of my leather jacket belt.  The belt received one of those accidental paint jobs when I bent over to place paintings in the van and dipped the belt right into a wet painting.  Low and behold, I take a wet paper towel to it and the paint wipes right off.  Are you kidding me?  In two years, I haven't thought to wipe it off??