on painted toes

Today, I did Talia's nails.
It was fun to (finally) be able to trim those tiny nails without having 567 distractions going on at once / having her yell "no toques!" and pulling her feet under her. It was also really cute to see her trying very hard to sit still but still squirming with excitement as her toes became "pies azules". I had her blow on them so she would stop reaching for the nail polish (thus avoiding a cobalt disaster on our rug).



I felt a tiny but guilty because my own mother did not permit any nail polish before the age of 16.
I believed it so ridiculous at the time, but I get it now. All she wanted was to protect our fleeting childhood.
Clearly, I chose to discard the nail polish rule, but I hope to do the same. I hope to keep in mind at all times that Talia is a child; a being that leaves magic wherever she goes, not just a tiny human that needs to be corrected and taught and molded into an adult.

This may seem like an elementary concept, but it's hard to remember in those moments that she yells out orders or refuses to go to bed at night. But the next moment she's running around in her princess dress, or conducting an orchestra with a furrowed brow, or hiding under her blanket with her toes sticking out. These moments are so fleeting and she is so cute and I want to her to live the fullest childhood she possibly can. I don't want her to remember mom looking at her little rectangle of a phone all day long, but instead, remembering her being there with her and discovering the world together.

I don't necessarily want to do more, I want to be more. (The Alison Show)

Anyways. Enough blabbering. Here's a few iphone pictures from the weekend.

^^ getting ready for my brother-law's wedding ^^

^^ chillin with her friend, Sasuke, in between the festivities. ^^

^^ super bad picture because I couldn't even  ^^