Nail Painting Stories

I have no idea what got into me, but we were at the grocery store while Annie was visiting and she said, "Hey we should try some new colors and paint each other's nails tonight." So we grabbed some Christmas-y colors and came home and while she visited with a friend, I spent the entire evening creating designs on Marcela's nails. I haven't done anything of the sort for years (I could replace years with decades). When we were finished, she was beaming with excitement - considering it was the first time her finger-nails have ever been painted. The next day at school I heard comments from everyone in the office and the lunch ladies about Marcela's nails. She stopped to show everyone how excited she was about her decked out nail designs.

I tried to do Cecilia's as well, but quickly learned that she was still too young. After painting them several times I told her, "Don't touch anything!" She sat quiet for a few minutes and then ran her fingers up and down my arm and I am trying to remember the whole story (help me here Annie) - I think she was saying "You have a soft sweater!" as she smeared her nail polish up and down my arm.

Just the other day Cecilia got ahold of some nail polish and dropped a bit on the rug in her room. I was instantly angry (a.k.a. stressed about how to get it out) and yelled at her and took her to the bathroom to wash it off of her hands and told her to sit there until I got it out of the rug. When I had success and calmed down, I went back in the bathroom to get her down from the sink and said, "Now, what do you say, Cecilia?" Obviously not understanding that she'd really done anything wrong and that I was expecting an apology for the mess, she said, "Now, will you paint my nails, Mommy?" How do you respond to that? It made me feel so bad that I was so upset with her when all she wanted was a little help. They are so precious. Yes, Ceci, I will help you paint your nails when you're old enough to hold still. Love you my baby girl!