Nail Trimming

Q hates to have his nail trimmed. Hates it. Big tantrums. We're working on it.

So I have strategies: I pick a time when he's not too tired, or too hungry. We've shown him how the nail trimmer works. We've let him watch us trim our own nails. And recently I've started singing 'Where is thumbkin?' while trimming his nails.

I admitted to J last night that I feel neglectful because I haven't been singing the itsy-bitsy spider, or thumbkin and our poor child's classics are being neglected. Never mind that the kid sings 'The Grand Old Duke of York' and 'Sally go round the sun' spontaneously. I was immensely relieved when J reassured me that they sing itsy bitsy spider in music class.

Anyways. So yesterday there's lots of screaming, and I'm singing 'Where is thumbkin' and gently prying open his little fists to trim them, and by the end, there's not so much screaming and I sing it again for fun this time.

We put the kid to bed last night, and as he's chattering himself to sleep we hear him start singing, "...where is thumbkin? where is thumbkin?..."