Clipping Toenails...oh the torture.

Ok, so clipping nails is not one of my favorite things to do, but it's one of the necessities of life. I use the little baby trimmer scissors on her fingernails about once a week to keep them from growing an inch long, but her toenails are a different story. And speaking of stories, let me share my moments of torture from this morning, both for her and me...

When she was a baby, I could wait until she was asleep and then do all trimming. Now, it's a different story. Thankfully, her toenails are very slow growing. But I looked at them a couple of days ago and kept thinking "it's gotta get done." They're getting long and jagged. Unfortunately, this morning had to be the day. Her big toenail had broken at the top and looked as though it had split down halfway across her nail. It looked like it hurt, but the part that split was sticking up and was begging to be cut off. So I sat her down and told her what I was going to do. Yeah..reasoning with a 16 month old doesn't work. So I showed her what I was going to do by trimming one of mine. Then I moved in. She started screaming before I even touched her. So I sat laid her down and tried to do it that way. Nope..more screaming through tears and trying to flip over. So 15 minutes later, I just about sat on her...well, put one of my legs over her belly to hold her down and an arm across her leg to hold her leg still. By then, she was so upset and terrified that I didn't know whether or not to continue...but keep in mind...the nail had split diagonally across her toenail and had to be stopped or it would have continued and really hurt her. She was kicking and hitting me while just screaming at the top of her little lungs. It was horrible for me to watch b/c I knew she was absolutely traumatized at that point. I guess I eventually wore her out b/c she got still for just a brief second, just long enough for me to make a few necessary snips so it wouldn't rip off on it's own. I'll have to have Darin help me tonight with the rest. By the way she was crying, you'd have thought I had put the child in a torture chamber.

I don't know why cutting nails is that big of a deal. She does this every time..but more so the older she gets. It's awful!!! If anyone has any suggestions on cutting toddlers nails, PLEASE SHARE!!!!! I can't just let them grow forever.

Thankfully, she let me hold and rock her for several minutes afterward as she cried and sobbed in my arms. The sobs finally stopped and she was my normal Zoe again.