Monday, June 15, 2009

Nail Salons

We've gotten to the stage where getting Kaylani to do anything that's not her idea is a challenge (which I'm convinced she got from Mommy's side). Changing her diaper when she doesn't feel like being dry means she'll squirm more than one of those squishy slinky bags. Feeding her when she's not in the mood to eat means we're bound to have color splotches sprayed on us. And clipping her nails when she doesn't want could lead to a missing finger, which is generally something we'd like to avoid.

Daddy has never been to a nail salon. Not once. Nope. Never. As sensitive and girly as Daddy may seem, not once has he given in to the few pleas from Mommy to get a pedicure or a manicure with her (back before Kaylani of course). Now I have no problem with guys who do get their nails done, but I'm just not one of them. And what that really means is that when it comes to cutting nails, I'm a novice.

I cut my nails because that's what you're supposed to do. Every 2-3 weeks I'll spend the 3 minutes it takes me to cut my 10 fingernails and toenails, and then I'll put the clippers away until next time. Making sure they're smooth, even, or clean was never a concern of mine and frankly, it still never is a concern of mine. But when it comes to Kaylani, that's where I've gotta step it up.

The trick to cutting Kaylani's nails is to do it while she's nice and calm, and there are only two times when she's nice and calm: while she's sleeping and when she's nursing before going to sleep. While she's sleeping sounds like a great option, but since she either sleeps in her crib or in her swing, it's not the best environment for us to attempt to cut her tiny little nails. The swing gives us the easiest access at her nails, but cutting nails is hard enough without having to swing back and forth with her and clip.

Nursing time ends up working 95% of the time, like it did tonight. Typically her eyes stay closed, her hands go limp, and it's clip away. The only challenge is deciding whether to wait the 10-20 minutes until she switches sides and frees her other arm, or deal with the awkward arm angles and cut the other one right away (which is what I did tonight). Either way, this method decreases the chance of a finger being cut off by at least 95%. To be clear, it does not decrease the chance of cutting a little bit of skin around the finger.

Thankfully nail cutting is done for tonight. Since her nails grow faster than umm..something that grows really fast (sorry, brain went blank), I'm sure we'll have to do this all over again next week. We wish we could wait the 2-3 weeks like I do, but the difference is that Kaylani will scratch herself, and more importanly us, up if we do. That means we'll definitely do it again next week. For now, Daddy's nail technician career is retired (and yes, I purposely ignored all of the possible Asian nail salon jokes).

3 comments:

Rina said...

I started doing what you did for her first haircut- I put on the Backyardigans. I never watched it before you said something about it. I keep my favorite episdoe on DVR (the 80's pop episode, every other episode I've seen sucks.) I have to cut Conner's nails like every 3 days b/c he likes to pinch and scratch my sides when he nurses. :o Ouch!

SurprisedMom said...

I absolutely hated clipping my girls nails when they were babies. My hands would shake; not a great condition to be in cutting nails. But I got through it. Now one bites her nails and the other grows her nails long. But what the heck, it's their fingernails. I'm just glad I don't have to cut them anymore.

Otter Thomas said...

That a boy! Never get your nails done. NEVER!

I don't clip my son's nails. I am way to shaky and nervous. I would prefer he kept all 10 fingers and toes.