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| See the little gold specks on Baby Kat! |
Grace found this fascinating. She wanted pierced ears just like her sisters. She wanted to wear fabulous shiny matching bits of jewelry. But getting your ears pierced is a lot like signing up for two shots in your head and what self respecting 5 year old volunteers to get shots on purpose!
So anytime we have passed the earring store for about the last 6 months I mentioned to Grace that she could get her ears pierced anytime she wanted and every time she declined saying "I'll get my ears pierced later, when I'm a lady". She came close a few times, even once stood and watched a teenage girl get hers done. But she was never ready to pull the trigger, so to speak.
Until Friday!!! I stopped into the earring store to pick up some earrings for Kat and Louise. We kept losing regular earrings from their heads. They would get pulled out when dressing them or lost in bed at night. So we were going to get some piercing studs with those locking backs. I asked Grace to come with me and pick out the earrings she liked best for her babies. The day before Haven and Kat had each had to get 6 vaccinations, including the "blue shot" (flu shot) that Haven said hurt the worst. So I was sure today would not be the day!
As we waited for the clerk to help us Grace turned to me and said "Mommy, pinch my ear and show me how it feels to get it pierced". Now I didn't want to lie to Grace and only give her a small pinch and make her feel tricked. But I also didn't want to pinch her so hard that it would make her cry in the middle of the store. So I pinched her moderately hard. She didn't cry and then asked me to pinch her other ear. Then she said "Does getting your ear pierced hurt as much as the blue shot?" Well in my opinion almost nothing hurts like a flu shot so I told her I didn't think so.
And that was that--"Ok Mommy, I'm ready to be brave, I want to get my ears pierced." So we alerted the clerk that we would need an ear piercing in addition to the other earrings and we filled out the release forms. A minute later, "Mommy, my tummy is getting a little scared." A minute after that, "Mommy, my arms and legs are getting scared, too."
I let the clerk know that if Grace got hysterical after the first ear that we WOULD be holding her down and finishing the job. We were not leaving with one pierced ear!
But my girl was so BRAVE. She hopped up in the chair and asked me to hold her hands. And she didn't even flinch!!! Pop, into ear number 1. Pop, into ear number two. And now she is the most brave and most glamorous girl in our house. She asked me if I would put a picture of her "beautiful new earrings" on my blog. Well, of course.
This may not seem like such a big deal. But my brave girl isn't always so brave and seeing her face so proud and excited and beautiful, well, I almost started to cry right there in the store. Not that I have a tendency to cry at the drop of a hat when it comes to my kids. That would never happen!!! It's a little milestone, this burst of bravery, but it is so full of the shiny promise that I see in my sweet baby Grace.
