This afternoon, I squeezed in a little painting time. Miss 8 wanted to join me, so I set her up so she too could get her creative on.

She was painting a container (not a picture of a container, an actual container, because...well....just because) and she set it aside to dry.

That's usually the time when she would ask if she could help me with my painting (no!) or try to pull me away from my work in some way.

But she didn't. Today she offered to refill my water for me. When the shock wore off, I gladly accepted, I've dreamed of having a painting assistant, but it's like dreaming of having a pet unicorn. It will never happen but damn it would be sweet.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention that this offer of help took place while I listened to the Smooth music channel. And she didn't complain. Who even is she?

After supplying clean water, Miss 8 disappeared to the far end of the room, out of sight behind some furniture. I didn't know what she was busying herself with, I was just glad she was busy.

It turned out she was creating a little display of some of my paintings, which she announced to her brother was a "mini gallery".

This is what she set up:

I'm sharing this firstly because she was just being super cute and it made me feel happy.

The other reason is that I totally lose sight of how many paintings I've done (and how many hours I haven't spent cleaning the house!) until I see them all together in a neat little collection like this.

So thank you daughter, you rock.