I smell fingernail polish. . .

So we are getting ready for bed the other night. David was out of town (yes, I know, it is so rare these days - hee-hee), so it was just me and the munchkins. I will admit that I was somewhat stressed out. You know, it was just one of those days. Fighting, everything was a mess, and I was not sure how much more I could take. I was at the end of my rope by bedtime. I was huffing around (trying to make a point to them) and I said, "OK! Just go upstairs and get ready for bed."

Well, that worked for a couple of minutes, but then they kept coming back downstairs for this or that. "Do these pajamas match?" "Doesn't my breath smell fresh?" "Can I pick 4 books to read?" "Can I just tell you one thing?" I was so ill! I said to Jessa (in a not very sweet voice), "Go upstairs! I will be right there, and then we can talk, pick books, and I will smell your breath!"

I mean, sheesh, all I had to do was start the dishwasher, turn off the lights, and make sure the dogs went out one more time. I was not going to be downstairs for hours! And we always snuggle and read books and chat before bed. But at this point, I just needed to be alone for a few minutes.

I was happy that I saw hide nor hair of them during the remainder of my last chores of the day. I headed upstairs with their bedtime ice water cups, feeling better and ready to snuggle and read with my sweet children. As I got about half way up the stairs, I was struck by a strong smell. It was an unmistakable smell. It could give you a headache. even if you were nto finishing up the day we had. With each step, the smell got stronger. With each step, the knot in my stomach grew. Flashes of what I was about to see were popping into my head. The carpet! The light gray carpet that does not belong to us. The furniture! The walls!

I asked out loud to no one in particular, "Why do I smell fingernail polish?" Silence. I headed into their room. Jessa was sitting up in her bed. Spencer looked like this (just with a scared guilty look- the picture is only a dramatic re-enactment for blog purposes):

Yep, he was all tucked into bed up to his neck. As I my eyes darted back from Spencer to Jessa, I noticed a bottle of fingernail polish on Jessa's headboard. I repeated my question, almost scared of the response, "Why do I smell fingernail polish?" Jessa immediately spoke up - I can always count on her to toss Spencer right under the bus. All she said was "It was Spencer," and then pointed in his direction. He did not deny it. He started to get upset. "But I am sorry, Mommy."

I walked around to his bed and pulled back the covers. There were my sweet boys hands and feet with lovely purple nail polish in each nail. Of course, the hiding under the covers had messed it up a little bit. And I would never tell him, but he did a pretty good job.

These pictures were taken the next day.

There was smudging, from his hiding it from me.

He underestimated the power of scent!

I sit down on the edge of his bed and start the typical mommy scolding. I cannot be too hard with my voice or he will come unglued. He is SO sensitive. I was telling him that "fingernail polish can stain and we should only use it with Mommy." And that I was "disappointed because he knew better than to play with fingernail polish." I was on a roll! After I had pretty much said what I needed to say, I asked him "why did you do this?" And he slowly explained, "Well, I wanted to go downstairs and ask you, but Jessa told me that you said that we could not come down there anymore and to stay in our beds." Ouch! OK, yes, I did pretty much yell at Jessa for them to stay put, but I quickly reminded him that he could have simply waited a couple minutes to ask me when I would have been upstairs.

I was relieved that David was not home since he is not a huge fan of Spencer and girly things. Bless Spencer's heart, it is all his adoration of his big sister that draws him to such things. The next day, we had a ton of errands to run. We got up and out before I thought about his nails. I noticed them when we were meeting the director of his new preschool for the first time. Yes, my SON had purple fingernails and purple toenails. Yes, he put flip-flops on so there was no hiding it. Oh and he was also carrying a Sleeping Beauty doll. I just pray that the teacher admires me for not being too embarrassed to let Spencer do his thing. I am pretty sure that she saw him worshiping his sister while they played, so maybe she understands?

When we got home, the first thing I did was get out the Cutex and his nails were all clear again - whew! And the fingernail polish is even more out of reach than it was before.