Nailed

Middle Child wants long, lovely finger nails. She particularly pines for a french manicure. Katie also bites her nails to the quick. This complicates a french manicure, which requires that there actually be enough nail for a white tip. Today, the darling used her own money to purchase a set of "natural length french manicure nail tips". Motherly advice offered the perspective that the tips are somewhat complicated and, despite the name, are not likely to produce a realistic appearance of natural nails. I then shut my mouth, and stepped back while Middle Child picked out a set to purchase.
Back at the house, Katie immediately set to work applying her fabulous press-on nails. It turned out to be more difficult than she anticipated. She approached her father and I with her fingers splayed to fully display the freshly applied nails in all their glory. A wee bit crooked, popping off randomly, and not-so-natural was the general result of her supreme effort. Katie decided to pop off all but the exceptionally well-adhered thumb nail while her sister Erin observed that she would like such a set of nails, too.
The mister questioned the origin of Miss Katie's wondrous nails to which she responded that, "Mom said these never worked for her, but I really wanted to try them out." I quickly interjected that she bought the nails herself, and she left the room. I then added that we might as well let her try such things out so she can decide whether she likes such things or not for herself. Our youngest child blinked once before asking, "How about if Katie wants to get her belly button pierced?" Uh-oh. The mister quickly responded with, "How about if we try it on you first?" which sent her running from the room. I do love that man.