Friday Favorite- Baby mani/pedi tools

Before Tye was born, I bought a little kit that included all the "essential" baby care items, like a bulb syringe, digital thermometer, eyedropper, hairbrush (HA!), and nail clippers. Seriously, it should have been on all those babycenter.com "Baby gear I could have lived without" lists.  Not one item has been used, but one did get an attempt- the baby nail clippers.  I tried to use them, but they were so dull that they didn't cut Tye's soft baby finger nails.  Useless.  At least I didn't try the "Deluxe" version, in which a magnifying glass was added on to the useless clippers.  I could see these being indispensable for someone with a vision impairment, but for the normal parent?  Really?

When the baby nail clippers didn't work, I tried adult nail clippers, but they were so large that they completely dwarfed Tye's tiny fingers and made the task close to impossible.  I finally found that sharp cuticle clippers work perfectly.  They allow precision trimming with good visibility and comfortable maneuverability.

Once we had the right tool established, the next struggle was encouraging Tye to sit still, or at least let us hold her hands and feet still.  We could have tried trimming her nails while she was sleepy or asleep, but considering how poorly bathtime goes when she's sleepy, I thought perhaps it was best to find a time when she was awake and content.  When she was a newborn, I could prop her up while she was nursing and clip her nails then.  Nothing would separate her from the breast! I don't think she even noticed the trimming. 

Now that she's older, though, she has less of an attention span for nursing, so I had to find something else.  We rarely have the TV on with Tye around (at least during the week).  When it is on, Tye stares at the screen with wide eyes, her eyes never leaving the moving images.  Once, I tried clipping her nails while we sat in front of the TV, and it worked beautifully.  Now, the only time Tye gets to "watch" TV is when her nails are being trimmed.  What a lucky girl- a manicure and pedicure and TV time, all in one sitting!