Pierced Ears

When Caitlyn was little, Jason adamantly opposed piercing her ears. I knew I didn't want them done as a baby, but I had no strong feelings about it otherwise.

Of course, neither of us was counting on Caitlyn's ability to so easily communicate what she wanted, and just a couple months shy of 2 years old, she began begging for "earwings." Specifically, she wanted monkey and frog earrings. I finally gave in to her insistence, and she and I went to get them done. As childhood rituals go, it was not particularly traumatic, but she did cry. I expected that, but what I did not expect was the nightly battle when it was time to clean her ears.

I swore that there would be no rush to have Lorelei's ears done because I was not in any hurry to repeat that experience!

Nonetheless, kids (at least mine) seem to have their own agenda and timeline for these sorts of things, and the other day when we were out shopping, Lorelei began asking for "earwings." The big difference is that this time around there was a sibling there to coax her along.

"Mama! Lorelei wants earrings like me and you! See--Lorelei, do you want earrings?"

"Yesh. Earwings."

"Seeeeee! She wants them!!!"

Not in any hurry to go through with the actual piercing, I figured I could buy some time if I was straightforward with my little redhead.

"Lorelei, it hurts a bit when you get earrings."

"Hurts?"

"Yes, just a bit. Do you still want them?"

She thought for a moment, rubbing her cute little ears. Then, to my surprise, she screeched, "Yeeaaaah!"

So, with Caitlyn's encouragement, Lorelei got her ears pierced. Caitlyn stood next to her, and reassured her that it would only hurt for a minute, though Lorelei was unconcerned about the advice. She picked out little pink earrings, though Caitlyn lobbied hard for tiny purple flowers. She played with the earring gun when the kind girl showed her how it worked, and she sat still while her ears were marked. She never even squirmed when the girl got the gun in position, and then . . . .

"WAAAHHHHHHHHH!" She flipped her tiny body over, and buried her face in my neck. I told the girl I'd walk around and calm Lorelei down before we did the other ear. As soon as I slid out of the chair, Lorelei picked her face up, and said, "More earwing?" as she patted the unpierced ear.

And just like that, she was ok, and allowed us to do the other ear. She cried again, but only for a moment before wanting to get down to pick out some new earrings with Caitlyn. I let each girl pick out earrings for later, and that was that.

Lorelei is so proud of her earrings, and she shows them off to everyone. She likes to look at them in the mirror, and she declared them to be very pretty.

And the cleaning? The epic battle scenes I was afraid of repeating?

Not an issue. In fact, Lorelei runs to get the cleaning solution when she wakes up in the morning and before bed at night--all that worry for nothing!

So, without further ado, Lorelei's pierced ears:

*Please note the baby, the paci and the duck that MUST be present at all times!