Saturday, December 15, 2012

Toeing the Line

It all started with mommy's pure laziness.  I was sporting some old toenail polish that I hadn't removed.  Alex noticed it and said "Uh oh mommy!  Your red toenails fell off!"  I assured him that it was just old polish and let him know that mommy would get rid of it and just have plain toenails for a while.  That would not do for my creative and awesome son.  You see, he's a huge fan of Zurg from the Toy Story movies.  And Zurg is primarily Purple.  Thus, Alex's favorite color is purple.  "Mommy, you're toenails need to be purple."  Only he pronounces it "puh puh" which makes me want to squeeze him with hugs every single time he says it.  "Alright Alex, next time we go to the store, you can pick out some purple polish for mommy's toes."  Boy did he hold me to that.  "Polish mommy!" he shouts from his perch on the end of the shopping cart.   He jumps down and peruses the colors.  I direct him to the Sally Hansen (I do have standards even if I'm lazy about them) and pull down 3 different purples.  He picks one and chucks it none too delicately into the cart.

Fast forward to a week or so later.  Ethan is down for a nap and we have 20 minutes until Alex is due for his.  "Alex," I say, "would you like mommy to paint her toenails purple now?"  "Yes mommy!"  I wasn't surprised at the reaction, he'd been mentioning the purple polish daily since it's purchase.  I grabbed some paper towels and sat on the floor with him.  I knew the next question was probably coming, but I didn't want to lead him toward OR away from it.  "Mommy, can I have purple toes too?" I tell him of course he can.  Then I say "Alex, some people think it's silly for boys to have toenail polish.  Does that bother you or do you not care?"  "I not care, mommy."  Alrighty then.  Just as long as he is aware of the outside world and can make decisions on his own, I'm happy.  So we got down to it and the results turned out great, I'd say.  Please note that this purple-toenail-havin' boy is also sporting camo pants.  I'd say he's pretty eclectic in his fashion sense.

2 comments:

  1. Toes! My black nails are falling off. Logan, at 17 months, already mimics blowdrying and straightening his hair and putting on chapstick. I have no doubt that he'll want to try toenail polish as he sees me and Victoria using it. Who am I to deny him a fun experience?

    Alex has great taste in purples. :-)

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  2. You are a fantastic writer! My boy puts on a ballerina leotard at times, paints his nails, plays with trucks, loves snakes, and plays in the mud. I like to think he's pretty well-rounded. BTW, I love that you asked him his thoughts on others perceptions of what he was doing. You are a fantastic mom, too!

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