Fighting Tooth & Nail

I seem to have spent the whole week so far cutting toenails. First I had to cut the guinea pigs' claws, and then trim the toenails of both of my girls. I am still trying to decide which were the most badly behaved - the furry or non-furry members of the family.

It's probably one of the things I dislike most in the world. It's not as though anyone particularly likes cutting toenails, whoever they belong to, but I always know that when it comes to trimming anything that belongs to my girls or piggies that I'm going to have a battle on my hands.

The guinea pigs fight dirty. They are very good at wriggling out of my grasp in any way they possibly can. They contort their little furry bodies in an attempt to exploit any weakness in my grasp, try to give me a warning nip on the finger and glare. Oh boy, can they glare! Over the years I have become better at holding them firmly but gently so they can't get away or sink their teeth into one of my digits but they are far superior to me in terms of brainpower so they always win in a battle over brawn.

I was possibly stupid to take on the girls' toenails in the same week that I'd already faced the wrath of the furry members of the family. But since Natasha had already pulled one of her socks off (with her teeth - ewwwww!) I thought I would take my opportunity.

I have never seen my poor daughter cry and scream as much as I did while I trimmed her little toenails - and that was before I even cut a single nail! I felt like I had brought implements of torture into her sphere of knowledge. I have never seen my usually chirpy, good-natured little girl in such despair! I felt like the worst mother in the world as I told her repeatedly things she almost certainly didn't care about regarding the prevention of ingrowing toenails. By the time I'd finished I don't know which of us was the sweatiest, most stressed or more tearful.

Setting her free once more to go and eradicate the memory of the toenail trimming exercise from her mind by way of an upside-down book about rabbits I wondered how I was ever going to convince Angelica to let me do the same to her after she'd just witnessed me putting her beloved little sis through seven shades of torture.

I didn't have to wonder for long as I glanced around to find Angelica on the bed beside me, one sock off and a foot held in my direction.

"Angelica's turn!" she prompted.

I sat there in stunned silence for a moment. This was certainly unexpected. I guess she really wants to do everything her sister does. Of course, it didn't help that she let me cut two nails before emphatically swapping legs and saying "And the other one!" and not letting me go back to the first for several minutes, but it was progress.

On reflection, the non-furry members of the family behaved better in the nail-cutting stakes.

I think it'll be a while before I face Amber and the others with the claw clippers again.