Wednesday, February 29, 2012

"Don't cut this one Mommy"

At night before or, most of the time, after bath, is when I cut Collin's finger and toe nails, clean his ears, floss and other grooming needs.  Collin has a certain way he wants me to cut his nails.  If you have not figured out already, this kid does know what he wants and does not want to do it any other way but his way.  There have been compromises but not after multiple negotiations, usually from his side.  So....nail cutting time is no exception.  When it's time to cut his finger nails, he likes to put his hand on my thigh or flat somewhere like that so he can see the nail being cut off.  This can make it difficult to cut the nail in the first place because of the angle.  His toe nails are a different story.  I can usually cut his finger nails without him putting up too much of a fight.  He does NOT like for his toe nails to be cut because he is very ticklish like his Mommy.  I did figure out that if he does not see me cutting his toe nails, like turning his head away from looking at his toes, I can usually get a toe nail or too before he squirms out of my clutch.  If you can imagine this, it does then take a few nights in a row to get all of his toe nails cut. He does like to clean his own ears and then comment on the color or what's on the Q-tip when he is finished.  We do have to clean his ears regularly because the boy can manufacture ear wax like crazy.

Last night, when I was about to start cutting his finger nails, his hand was in position on my thigh.  He told me as he was pointing to his pinkie finger nail, "Don't cut this one Mommy."  I wondered why he told me this because 1) he had never made this request before and 2) why that finger?  I guessed it was because he used the nail as a "tool" for something.  I asked him, "Is that the one you used to pick your nose?"  He looked and me as if to say "How did you know" and told me "Yes, see" and showed me quickly how it fit in his nose....then put his finger back on my leg and laughed.  I had to laugh too because I would not consider him one of those chronic nose-picking kids you see and because he thought he got away with putting grossness on my leg...which he did not.  After putting his fingers back on my leg, he said, "Oh...and don't cut this one either" pointing to his pointer finger.  He then put a pointer finger in each nostril.  I could see both of us loosing focus quickly.  :)  I did manage to cut his finger nails.

I was not as successful with his toe nails.  Last night, he sat on the ground with his legs out.  I crouched over him so to block his view of his feet and was able to get the pinkie toe nail off of one toe.  That one really needed it because it was starting to curl it was so long.  I have been trying to get it for two weeks now.  Success!

After all of this, the negotiations about how many books and which book to read started next.  He still needed to brush and floss his teeth....which he did eventually do.  I did have to help him floss as he was yelling out , "You are hurting me".  Not sure how I was doing this since the floss was not even making it close to his teeth. 

The things mommies do to make sure that their kids are groomed and look presentable every day. 

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