Inventing Toenails

A couple nights ago, much to the girlies' delight, Mary brought out a new bottle of red-pink nail polish. As Madge laid sprawled out on the couch, Mares painted her little toe nails. Madge then went and sat in front of the fan to have the nail polish dry.

Much to my surprise, instead of wanting Mom to paint her nails, Guady came over to me to ask me to do it. Not that toenail painting is a part of my job portfolio or expertise, I was nevertheless delighted to sit with her. She laid across my lap as I dutifully painted her little nails. My job was sub par, however, as she wriggled about in the process. (It wasn't too bad, I have to say.) Mares gave me a playful jab at how I was painting more than the nail, creating the impression that the nails were bigger than they actually were. (True, true.) But, as I explained to Mares, the real problem is that Pita's toes are like her mother's: she only has eight toe nails, since the smallest toes on each foot are without nails. There's something of a nail, but you have to round down since they're soooooo small. So, did I create a nail when none existed? Yes. Am I proud of it? You bet. :)

I love all my girls so much...whether with 8 or 10 toenails!