Doing Our Nails

Lucy has always tried to help me paint my nails.

Oh, alright, she tries to eat the emery boards. In that specific picture she even looks like she is sniffing it, haha, which is ever grosser.

She loves watching me; but, she absolutely hates me doing her nails. Her finger nails always get long enough that the cinnamon from her Maple Syrup & Cinnamon Crunchies gets underneath. Then they look dirty and it looks like we never bathe her. Finally we break down, hold her down, and cut them......It's a vicious cycle.

However, the other day, I had to postpone my pedicure. I still wanted to wear sandals though; so, I decided to re-paint my toe nails pink.

Lucy seemed very interested in what I was doing. I thought to myself, "Cori, this is your chance! It's now or never!"

I put her in my lap, peeked over her shoulder, and started painting her toes. She was mesmerized. Then, I got to toe nine and she started to wiggle. I rushed to get that last little, pinkie toe done. Whew!

Then they needed to dry before she ruined the carpet! I went to our standing fan and held her toes in front of it. Of course she wanted to touch the fan; but, I was able to distract her with my phone. Three minutes later, they were dry! :)

Aren't those just the cutest, chubbiest toes you've ever seen? Alright, so I'm biased! :)

I never thought that she would sit still long enough at just 15 months old. I was pleasantly surprised! I highly recommend pedicures with your little girl, no matter what age! 

Now, if I could just get her to go to the nail boutique with me for the whole pedicure! :) I will just have to wait...

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! :)

Fun-Day Friday

I decided to share, on this Fun Friday, a little project that my Lucy and I did.

I read about the project on BabyCenter.com. I occasionally visit their projects/crafts section to see if there is anything fun to do, or that helps Lucy develop and learn.  Every once in a while I'll actually find one that sounds good and doesn't require a lot of work. Nevertheless, we decided to make bracelets! :) 

Lucy occasionally plays with my bracelets; therefore, I was going to make Lucy her own!

So, I sat her down.

I got some of our Fruity Cheerios (Fruit Loops, AppleJacks, or regular Cheerios would work too).

2 box tops?! :) Heck yeah!

I got some ribbon.

And, then we started stringing the Cheerios on the ribbon. 

I don't know why I have such a "sour" look on my face. I think I was concentrating too hard.  Lucy enjoyed holding the other end for me...and snacking on the Cheerios. :)

Baby Center also suggested using Twizzler ropes or Sour Punch ropes too. I thought they might be too sticky and I didn't particularly want Lucy all sugared up!

I could barely get Lucy to sit still long enough to get a few pictures of her bracelet. She immediately started chewing on it. That is probably my fault, since she was eating them before I even put them on the string!

She played with it a little too.

See the purple Cheerio on her shoulder? :)

It didn't take long before all of her "charms" we gone. She was just left with a bracelet, which I then took off.

It was a lot of fun for Lucy. I thought that she might wear her bracelet around for a while; but, she just immediately started eating it! She didn't even make it out of the highchair. haha.  Perhaps next time...

It may work a little better when she is older. Then she could even help me string the Cherrios! :)

Do you do any fun projects like this with your baby or toddler?

Note: I had a picture post yesterday, "A Box isn't a Box", and it just seemed to disappear! I posted it right before Blogger went down and now it's gone. Sorry!

Fail Gate

Ahh...parents, remember those days when your child didn't move? Let your mind take you back...

Remember when they just laid there and could barely even roll over? You could put a play gym over them and get along with your chores/cooking/cleaning/etc. You could walk through door ways without having to step over gates or open and close swinging doors.

This is what our entryway looked like back in those good 'ole days.

But then...

She started rolling, then army crawling, then real crawling, then climbing, then climbing stairs...yipes. We had to do something! And, as you can see, this is an awkward area to block off.

Heath wanted to buy a long baby gate, the kind that screws into the wall. Nope. Not having it. I don't want to screw something into the wall. We'll just have to keep her away from it.

Ha!

We were so sick of going over and saving her from the stairs that we would make games of it.

"If I throw this block and it lands in the toy bin (7 feet away), then you have to go get Lucy. If I miss, I have to go get her."

Just after her first birthday, this is what had happened.

Obviously, this jimmy-rigged, trashy, fail gate wasn't going to work. It would be a temporary fix until Heath got the other one ordered online.

And, then he screwed it to the wall. :{

Again, the lighting is kind of yellowish on my phone. Sorry!

It makes going in and out of our living room kind of a nightmare. However, I have come to the realization that it will probably be there for the next five years or so, through all of our children becoming mobile (three planned, as of now).

Childproofing your home kind of takes all design out - not that those TV trays and dog bowls were adding much to my initial decor.

Here's to five plus years of gated-ness. :(

When we take it out, the room will seem huge! That's a plus I look forward to.