Miniature Mani/Pedi

Last weekend, we were getting ready to host a playdate at our house with one of our neighbors. As I was getting myself ready, I decided I was going to go barefoot, and when I looked down at my toes I discovered they were TRASHED. Seriously, probably hadn’t painted them in 6+ weeks. Of course, we were expecting our company in like 20 minutes, so I whipped out a bottle of nail polish and set to rectify the situation.

In the meantime, Nora was hanging out with me in the bathroom, and she took IMMEDIATE interest in what I was doing. She watched for a moment, then started pulling random objects out of my makeup drawer—lip gloss, sample size of lotion, my mascara, etc.—and bent down to “apply” these things to her toes.

I smiled, thought for a moment, then cheerfully asked her, “Nora: Do you want your toes painted like Mommy’s?”

“Yessss!” she answered, a huge smile spread across her face.

And so I plopped her up on the toilet seat and started painting her toes a deep red, just like Mommy’s. As soon as the color hit the first toenail, she giggled with glee. And continued with each subsequent nail. She was SMITTEN.

And soooo proud of them once they were done. Before they were even dry, I noticed her eying her fingernails. And then she held up a hand to me, fingers straightened, and although she didn’t have the words to say so, I knew she was asking, “Now my fingers?”

We were literally minutes away from expecting someone at the door, so I told her not now, but I promised to do them later. Thankfully, she has started to understand these types of bargains (she can be REASONED with!! HALLELUJAH!!), so she said, “‘Kay.”

She went off to show Daddy her toes. He thought they were adorable, of course, but immediately scolded me for not letting him know I was doing it because he would’ve taken photos! (Such a good daddy.)

After our playdate was over and a nap was had, Nora actually “asked” about her fingers AGAIN, so I made good on my promise and set her up for a manicure. And this time, Michael was right there to document it.

The fingers were way, WAY harder than the toes, by the way. She kept trying to bend her fingers, and had a harder time keeping her hands still. I managed to do an OK job, but definitely had to use the Q-tip dipped in nail polish remover trick to tidy things up at the end.

Look at her watching. She kills me. Love her so much.

In the week since, the polish on most of her nails has chipped off. This morning, she was looking at them while I was changing her diaper and she held them up to me again as if to say, “Mom. Can you redo my nails?”

I’ve created a monster. But damn she’s cute.

And I’ll admit: I am so loving this. My philosophy with this kind of stuff—painted nails, pierced ears, etc.—has always been that I would only ever do it if she asked. I can’t believe how much fun I’m having now that she actually did. :)

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I am participating in NaBloPoMo. In other words, I have committed to blogging every day during the month of November. I can’t guarantee I’ll succeed, but I’m going to try! If you’d like to join me (and a TON of others), you can click here to sign up (you only have until Monday 11/5 to do so).