Why didn't I think of this sooner?

I've finally figured out the key to getting Sammy to nap--he has to be physically and/or mentally exhausted, which means his anti-napping phase has really been a problem of my own making.  So rather than turning on Pocoyo as soon he asks for it (which is taking the easy way out when I'm not quite awake at 7 am), I've been suggesting that we build some puzzles or color with chalk instead to get the ol' synapses firing.

Yesterday I decided to pull out the big guns--finger paint.  I'd bought a roll of artist's paper at Michael's the other day and had a six-pack of washable paint socked away in my craft cabinet, so I got Sammy situated at the table and let him go to it.  You might be wondering why I hadn't thought to do this sort of thing sooner and the answer really is quite simple--I didn't want to clean up the resulting mess.  But I figured I'd just have to deal with it because I'd much rather clean up paint splatter while Sammy napped than not have any sort of break at all because he was wide awake and a whining mess.  Turns out I really had nothing to worry about; my fastidious toddler preferred a brush to his fingers and only needed a reminder here and there to keep the paint on the paper.

Obviously Sammy had to sample some of the paint when he thought I wasn't looking; you have to admit, it is a rather fetching color on him.