Could you put her in her highchair to paint. That way you could contain the mess pretty easily.
Hey, I never thought of that! That's a good idea since the tray is easy to clean. Although my DD is such an active girl who hates being strapped in (to car seat, highchair, shopping cart, etc), that I'm not quite sure how long she'd last in it.
Before you go ripping up carpets, hardwood and laminate is a nightmare to keep tidy and 'bit'free! I would never go back to carpet (we don't have any in our house) but it is so much easier to keep than laminate -except that laminate doesnt get marked. We always have bits of stuff on the floor or sticking to feet, even if we hoover twice a day. Drives me totally bonkers!!!
I didn't know that about keeping hardwood tidy and "bit"-free. Or maybe it's because I can't see what's been dropped onto our carpet, since it is a brown color that hides all that crud. It's just that I have seen DD holding/waving her sippy cup and dripping water/juice everywhere, I just hate to think how much of it is on the carpet. I was thinking that I could see the mess with hardwood and clean it up. I don't think DD cares about how clean the carpet is though, she crawls eveywhere, touches everything, then rubs her eyes/face or puts her fingers into her mouth.
I guess the biggest reason I hate vaccuuming is that the vacuum which I inherited from my mom is one of those canister types which feels back breaking when I have to tug the other end around behind me. I'm tempted to get a Dyson, but they're so expensive and I can't really justify the expense, especially now that we are on one incrome. Of course I'd probably curse the upright styles for not easily allowing me to vacuum under tables & beds. And I don't like moving furniture around.