The Ear Piercing

Bean asked a couple of weeks ago if she could get her ears pierced.  I never did it when she was a baby because I was afraid she would have problems with allergic reactions like I always did  and I also wanted it to be her own decision.  So once when she was smaller and asked about earrings, I told her that she could have them when she decided she wanted to do it.

When she first brought it up, I wasn't ready.  I said that she would have to hold off until after the big family to-do at the lake for the Fourth of July.  She was fine with that and frankly I thought maybe by the time that was over, she would forget about it.

Nope.

On our way into the grocery store one evening, she said "this weekend I can get my earrings".  Hold up.  What?  You remember that?  She did.

I said that we would have to see because getting earrings meant she would have to take care of them and I wasn't sure she would do that.

On Friday morning, she talked about it again.  I explained to her exactly what would happen and how she would probably feel.  She wasn't bothered.  She was ready.  I told her about having to take care of them and not being able to take them out for a few weeks.  She didn't care.  She wanted them.

So Saturday, along with my cousin Crispy, we set off to get some earrings.  She wanted the Hello Kitty pair. (I have no idea where she gets that from.)  But the salesgirl at Claire's told her that some others would be better for her because of allergic reactions.  I'm not sure if that's true because funnily enough, those pairs that were better against reactions also happened to be the more expensive.  I think that was a toss up but I didn't put up a fight.  So Bean picked out some pink sparkly flowers and climbed into the chair.

Look at that kid right there!  That looks like a happy and interested kid, right?  Well she was for a minute.

Then the piercers got to work.

Uh oh, it's starting.

And it's happened.  The ears were pierced and the crying began.

Thankfully, it didn't last very long and with Mommy feeling bad and caving in to a few other items at Claire's, the sobbing soon stopped.

So my baby is now my baby with pierced ears.  I know what you're going to say.  She isn't a baby any more.  That's what she says.

But you all are wrong.  She is my baby with pierced ears.  But they are cute ears.

She is doing really well with taking care of them.  She is supposed to clean and twist the earrings 3 times a day.  She has assigned the job of twisting to herself and I've been assigned the cleaning bit.  She loves to count and twist.  She once twisted four times and looked at me and said "is that okay or do we have to start over?"

"It's okay, Baby.  It will be fine."