I got tired of listening to “Mama.  Wash hands?  Mama.  Wash hands?  Mama. Wash hands?”  over and over again this morning while Vista was finger painting this morning, so I decided to set up a little hand washing station for her.  Her sensory/OCD issues mean that, while she will now use her fingers to paint, she’ll often need to wash her hands after each time she gets her fingers dirty.  So it looks something like ‘Put fingers in paint, wipe on paper, wash hands’.  This last part is quite often necessary to avoid meltdowns on my part and hers.

So this morning, I wasn’t in the mood for repeated trips to the bathroom for hand washing, so I dragged her table into the kitchen and set up a place where she could wash her own hands.  She was elated.  And painting quickly fell by the wayside while she splashed in the soapy water.

The bowl is filled with water and a drop or two of dishwashing liquid.  I originally just set it on a towel, but with all the splashing, the towel was getting soaked, so I placed the bowl in a pan to catch the sloshing.  She had a little hand towel next to her where she could dry her hands when she was done.

I think I’ll be setting this up every morning.  It was very simple and kept everyone happy.