Real Men Wear Pink

I painted Janelle's toenails for the first time last week and she was ecstatic. She will now stop perfect strangers on the street and say "Look at my pretty pink toenails!" I have found her sitting in the recliner, cuddling with her blanket, and rubbing one finger over a painted toenail. Ahh bliss. She's such a little girl. Of course, my nails are painted to match so sometimes when she stops perfect strangers on the street, she insists they look at MY nails which is a bit more embarrassing.

Last Sunday afternoon I whispered to Janelle that I thought we needed to paint Daddy's toenails so he would match us. She thought this was a fantastic idea and ran to tell Daddy who, unfortunately, did NOT think it was such a great idea. He looked at me and I could see his wheels turning. I think he was mentally trying to remind himself of all the reasons he loved me because he was considering dousing me with the glass of water in his hand. Instead, he calmly but firmly said, "Boys don't paint their nails, sweetie." Poor Nelly was instantly in tears. This wasn't a tantrum (we've seen enough of those). This was a little heart totally disappointed. You should have seen the look on Andy's face. He was stricken. He looked at me and then looked at Nelly. You could almost see his brain computing how much of his manhood he was willing to sacrifice, calculating how much testosterone would leak from his body with every pink toenail. He sighed heavily and said, "Alright. Just one." He walked to the chair like a man walking the plank and now, much to Janelle's delight, he has one pink toenail. We chose a big one, of course.

It's just one more reason we love Daddy. He enjoys tea parties, will wear princess jewelry, has pretended to be a "boy-fairy" when Nelly plays fairy, and now has one painted toenail. Lipstick and eyeshadow are just around the corner.


This is Andy's "I can't believe I'm about to do this" face.


The final product. I had to catch him on the run because he didn't want me to take a picture.