when we got home eden was enamored with my purchase. she wanted to wear those "beautiful earrings" like mommy does. I told her she had to have holes in her ears and it would feel like a shot, and that she would cry. she said she wouldn't cry...and that she wanted holes like mommy. she'd said this before, but I just dismissed it like the other times. the next morning she kept saying the same thing. she wouldn't cry...she wanted to wear mommy's earrings. so, to walmart we went. I was prepared for her to see the little ear hole making guns and turn the other way. but she didn't! they put little dots on her ears, two walmart ladies stood on either side of her, and she kept smiling. until...they fired. then the tears flowed.
thankfully, they were short lived. and her beautiful pink sparkly heart earrings (that she picked out) look so sweet in her little ears. I had to wait until I was a lot older to get my ears pierced. it was a family rule. a right of passage into grown-up girlhood. I guess I have decided that my girls can get them done whenever they ask and are willing to go through with it. in el paso little girls get their ears pierced right after they leave the birth canal. I think it is all just cultural.
and in case you were wondering. I won't just let her get a tattoo whenever she asks. I got one when I was 17 and am going to advise all of my kids to wait a few years after that to decide on permanent inkage. I won't let her do a lot of things whenever she asks. but earrings, I'm cool with.
