Friday, January 28, 2011

Manicure

When babies are born they have the most amazing little fingers.  They are small and thin and perfect.  The nails are so tiny and so perfectly shaped.

I loved to just sit and stare at my babies fingernails.

As they grow their fingers begin to change.  They get bigger of course, but they are also less and less fragile.  The fingernails keep their shape for a while.  Then, when they can crawl and get into things they change again.  The nails grow and have to be cut.  Dirt gets under them. 

My babies' fingers are long and thin, but their nails got short and fat.  They became "kid fingernails."

About a year ago something terrible happened.

Haley started chewing on her nails.

Her beautiful baby fingernails turned kid nails became ragged edged. 

They became dangerous. 

They had to be trimmed, but there wasn't much to trim.  They developed hang nails.  She chewed on those.

They bled.

I was at my wits end.

Then one day a couple of months ago Haley's Big Sis painted Haley's fingernails.  To put it more accurately, she painted the ends of her fingers where her nails should have been.

Haley thought it was the greatest thing in the world.  She proudly showed them to everyone.  The teachers at school must have "oohed" and "awed."  They mentioned them in her note that comes home.  It seemed to work.  They chipped right away so I repainted them.  I did that quite often in the first couple of weeks.

Haley likes her "nails" she likes to hold out her hand and announce what color her nails are. 

They have been "RED", "BLUE", "YELLOW", "ORANGE", and "PINK."

She doesn't chew on them anymore.  I give her a manicure once a week. 




They grow fast now. They get long. It's great!




They are not so much "kid fingernails" anymore.




They belong to a girl, a teenager, or should I say "a young lady."


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