Talent for getting into trouble

Yesterday was a very difficult day. First of all, Michael was sick a few days ago, and although we tried to keep it from spreading to the rest of us, it was inevitable that Annabelle and/or I would catch it. Thankfully, Annabelle doesn't seem to have anything other than a runny nose. I, on the other hand, am feeling pretty terrible.

I decided that I would try and act like I wasn't feeling badly, so I showered, got dressed up (meaning I changed out of my sweats and sweatshirt), got Annabelle ready (I was so excited because I was able to french braid her hair for the first time. I had to let her play with my phone, which she is not usually allowed to play with, in order to get her to sit still long enough), and went out to do some errands. Later on, I decided I'd paint my toenails. I made sure the lid of the nail polish was screwed on tightly, knowing that Annabelle might get her hands on the bottle, and began removing what was left of the current polish. Less than a minute later, I went to grab the nail polish and this is what I found: Annabelle holding a broken bottle of nail polish, her hands thick with the polish, it running down onto her new pants that I bought less than a week ago, and a huge dark pink stain on the floor. This nail polish ordeal came after a number of other little incidents: putting her peanut buttery hands all over my freshly washed jeans, spilling her orange juice on the floor, and ripping several pages in one of my piano books.


The range of my emotions once I saw the spilled nail polish was pretty crazy. I was angry that she had played with the nail polish when she knew she was not supposed to play with it and had gotten polish on her new pants and on the floor, shock that she had broken the bottle, a tiny bit of amusement knowing that only Annabelle could have made this scene possible, and sickness to my stomach because I knew that I wouldn't be able to get to stain out of the carpet. I think I could feel my illness get 10 times worse after that. There were many tears shed, both from the culprit and me. I have looked at the bottle several times and have no idea how Annabelle could have broken it like that. If you look at the picture closely, you'll see that she broke the glass.

I love my daughter, there should be no doubt of that. She is energetic, amusing, and very cute. However, she also has the ability to get herself in big trouble. However, knowing my daughter, I should have been aware of the dangers of putting that nail polish within her grasp. It's these types of events that no matter how difficult they may seem at the time, they are great learning experiences and they are what help us as parents learn better ways to deal with our children.