More pink

I've already acknowledged that my hockey "talent" is inferior to that of my six-year-old. Now I've discovered a skill area in which my three-year-old has me beat. I never want to be the kind of parent who lives vicariously through my children. But when it comes to manicures, that just might have to be the case.

Check out the pretty pink polish on Sydney's nicely filed fingernails. Despite the diva-ish precedent this no-doubt will set, I am beyond relieved that my daughter is not following my nail-biting ways.

A few months ago, it dawned on me that I hadn't had to trim her nails in a while. I started watching her and, to my dismay, noticed she was biting her nails. I cannot put into words how guilty I felt. She had to have learned it from me. And as someone who has struggled unsuccessfully for more than three decades to break this bad habit, I absolutely didn't want to pass this trait on to her.

Then, suddenly, she stopped doing it. Over the last few weeks her nails have been growing longer and longer. The tricky part is, she hates getting her nails cut, and so I needed to come up with a way to trim them without using a clipper. I found an old nail file from a baby kit and used that to smooth them back to a manageable length and shape. And then the ultimate treat – I pulled out a bottle of pink nail polish.

Sydney did a very good job sitting still while I painted her nails. What she does not do a good job at is allowing the nail polish to dry untouched. She concluded our first attempt by excitedly clenching her hand into a fist. Out came the nail polish remover. The second time through I taught her how to lightly blow on her nails. That worked pretty well, but she still managed to smudge one of the nails. Holding her finger for me to see, she announced, "I need more pink."

By the time we got to the second hand, she was fascinated. We still ended up with a few smudges. I didn't think they were too bad, but apparently she did. She instructed me, "we need more water" (nail polish remover). I removed the messed up part, after which she prompted, "Now, more pink."

Yes, I've created a monster. Now if I could just get that monster to share her secret for stopping nail biting...