Girls Morning Out

Saturday dawned bright and clear. And COOL!! It was a perfect day for all sorts of things. I had one thing on my mind, though. A pedicure. I was itching for somebody to attention my feet. Seeing as how Sarah Grace loves a good toe polishing, I took her along. I explained to her on the way there what it was that we were up to, and she seemed vaguely confused.

'But you paint my toes in tha baf-room...why does somebody else do it?'

Well....why indeed. I can absolutely paint my own nails...I just like the extravagance of having it done for me occasionally! How to explain that to nearly four year old girl?

When we got to the nail salon, Sarah Grace asked precisely 486 questions pertaining to her surroundings. What is that? Why is she doing that? Look at that funny chair! Are we gonna get to sit there? What is that doing to her feet? and on and on and on and on....

Then I pointed her towards the paint color selections. She looked at them for less than a nano-second and went straight towards a purple. A shockingly purple kind of purple. Not neon or plum, but straight up, very bright purple. Ironically, it's name was Purple!! (exclamation points were a part of the name)

Now, ya'll, I am all about convention. And this purple was highly unconventional. In my little bubble of a world. Everything in me was balking at the idea of my daughter having purple toes. Everything except this one little brain cell of logic that was screaming it doesn't matter. They are her toes, and the kid wants purple.

It's amazing how one eensy brain cell can over rule an entire body, mind, and soul. In this instance, it was okay. I kept my mouth shut and the child carried her purple polish to the fellow who was lined up to do our toes.

I, on the other hand, stuck to my idea of convention. I picked up my tried and true favorite. A shade of red named I'm Not Really A Waitress.

I'll leave you to laugh for a moment.

But not too long. You'll offend my delicate nature.

Moving on along....

We sat up in our chair, me soaking my feet in the wonderfully warm water and Sarah Grace sat in my lap and chattered non-stop about anything and everything that she saw. I finally realized that I wasn't going to get to relax my way through my pedicure unless I did something to distract this child of mine.

iPhone to the rescue!! Dots, Four in a Row, Cow Says Moo, and several other games kept her subdues for nearly 12 minutes. Then the guy started painting her toe nails. And she sat quietly and awed until he finished the first coat.

As he started the second, she looked up at me...

'Why is he doing two of them, Mommy? He already painted that toe. And that one!'

She began to squirm a bit, but one quick reminder for the guy and she settled down. I explained that two coats would help the polish last longer. This pleased her and she sat back. Until he started the clear coat.

She sprang forward again and quizzed him on why he was doing that and what was it for? Thankfully, the guy has a five year old daughter of his own, and gently but firmly held her little foot as he gave her the why's and how for's.

Sarah Grace's toes were finished up and she sat against me, resuming her chatter, until we were done with our pampering. The we went shopping for her a pair of flip flops so she could better show off her toe nails. As I carried her (oh my word, is she ever getting big!) through the store, she pointed out her toes to every single person we passed.

All of them. To a person, they all smiled and oohed. I could have hugged the sulky teen aged boy who gave her a smile and a 'cool'. Really.

We found her some purple flops that nearly matched the hue of her toes. Put them on her feet right then and there and now they are the only shoes for her.

After the pictures (where Sarah Grace pulled her most solemn expression ever) we pulled out stickers for her toes. As soon as Elizabeth saw the stickers, she had to have some. Then Sarah Grace insisted I put some on my toes. I was game, but because I am so not coordinated, the effort resulted in highly less than symmetrical toe nail stickers, and I pretty much ruined the aesthetics of the pedicure.

Most importantly, though, we had a great time. Sarah Grace showed off her toes to everyone at church. She was adamant about wearing her pretty, purple, polka dot flops just so she could see her toes. Elizabeth simply pulled off her shoes several times to display her toes. Ahhhh......these little girls of mine sure do make life sweet!