Monday, March 05, 2007

holes in her head

on friday afternoon i was at the mall with my mom & dad, browsing about for nothing in particular. at a sassy little jewelry boutique (i have no idea what such a cool place is doing in the middle of a major metropolitan mall) i spotted a pair of shiny day-glo pink kitty earrings for pierced ears. awww, what the heck? i thought to myself. i'll get them for s in case she ever wants to get her ears pierced.

surprise, surprise. when she got home from school and saw those shiny cool earrings, she was all ready to hop in the car and head off to the mall to get her ears pierced! i was honestly floored... we hadn't much talked about the issue of holes in ears yet. although... my ears were pierced for my 6th birthday, and she is almost already there. i figured she must be about ready and we discussed the issue a little further. she seemed completely unfazed by the grim details... just "yep, uh-huh, and whatever, mom."

although i wasn't about to go back to the mall that day, i made a bargain for us to go after dance class on saturday. luckily there's a jewelry store just around the corner from dance class (and from all the deliciousness at whole foods) so we popped in there while h was dancing and asked if they did piercing. yippee, they did! the saleslady pulled out the array of earring choices and i held my tongue. some of them were really expensive! i'm glad i kept my mouth shut because my darling little daughter chose the cheapest of stainless steel balls. whew!

we sat her down in a little chair while mommy pulled out ice packs to numb her ears. she practically rolled her eyes at my neurotic behavior, so i gave up and gave in to the screaming that was sure to follow (don't worry... there was motrin ready in my bag).

one ear... CLICK!-- and she said, "that didn't even hurt."

next ear-- CLICK!-- "that didn't hurt either."

i was all excited... bouncing up and down, telling her how cute she looked, having her look in a mirror but she --at all of 5 years old-- was cool as a cucumber. "when can i wear the little pink kitties?" she asked.

"in 6 weeks you can change your earrings," replied the kindly piercer.

so every morning since then, all 2 days worth, s has asked me... "how many more days?" but she HAS shown more excitement about them, especially when showing her brother, daddy, and grandma & papa. today is her show & tell day at school, and she chose to show her newly pierced ears.

do any of you remember the day you got your ears pierced for the first time? i'm sure it's a day that will live in legend in her (and mine, too!) brain forever.

20 comments:

Unknown said...

I just remember I got mine done at walmart and my dad told me I could only have them pierced once. Since I was such an obnoxious kid, I started planning that day on how I could get my ears pierced again, and again, and again......

Autumn's Mom said...

My daughter had hers peirced when she was 5. She's now 12 and wants to pierce her nose. Um no. I agreed that on her 13th birthday she can pierce the top of her ear.

My grandmother gave my cousin and eye "ear piercing" when I was 10 and she was 13. I totally remember going to the mall and geting it done at a kiosk in the middle of the mall. The gun broke when piercing one of my ears. The earring nicked me but I didn't even feel it. I did however hear my grandmother gasp. haha We tried to get her to do it to but she said no way. I also remember when my dad saw my ears he said, ok, but no more. So a year later a got another set ;)

J said...

I wasn't allowed to get mine done until I was 16. I got a second set pretty soon after the first. :)

Maya got hers done this last year, and six weeks wasn't enough for one of them to heal completely. It got a little bit infected, and she had to put the studs back in for a few more weeks. That sucked. But she's all happy now.

Lotus Reads said...

What a brave little girl S. is, I'll bet she looks lovely with her ears pierced! I got mine done when I was around 10 years old, but we (my sister and I) were taken to our family doctor who pierced our ears with a needle... I remember having ugly white thread in my ears for around 8 weeks after that. When the thread came off, she (the doctor) replaced it with gold wire.

CereneOne said...

Yes indeed. I was 16 years old. Dad had a "thing" about holes in ears (or anywhere else) so I was not allowed to do so. When I finally did, he wouldn't look or talk to me for a month.

Booklogged said...

My youngest sister and her friend pierced my ears when I was in college. We were at home, they put a potato behind my earlobe and stuck it with a needle. Didn't hurt at all or get infected. Years later I quit wearing earrings and the holes healed over. When I decided to repierce them I went to a jewelry store where they used that gun thing. It hurt like crazy. I almost didn't get the second ear done.

When my daughter got her's done they did both ears at the same time, which I thought was very smart.

Heidi said...

My daughtor is 8 and is still is afraid to pierce her ears. Every holiday, birthday, end of , start of school etc. she asks if she can get them pierced and of course I say sure hon. But in the end she gives into her fear of pain. She is not scared of much but sometimes the littlest scratch on her and you would think her arm had been cut off by how hysterical she becomes. Oh and if there's blood she really freaks. She takes after my husband in that regard.

Smoothieshake said...

hey melissa! i have no recollection of getting my ears pierced, they were pierced when i was a couple months old. I love earrings tho, so I'm glad this was taken care of early on:)

CereneOne said...

Thank you for coming by and commenting.

Genesis, Garden of Eden, all were created by God. It is part of the earth, he created the earth. Good thought though! Thanks.

Beenzzz said...

I think I got mine done in the JC Penny's salon and it hurt like HELL. My daughter had hers pierced when she was nine (at Claire's) and it didn't seem to phase her one bit. Now she has 7,000 pairs of earrings! :)

Jay said...

My Nanny brought me to a jewellery store downtown. I thought the coolest part about it was taking an actual bus! The lady marked my ears with purple marker and I nodded my approval. I was 3 years old. Apparently I sat their so stoicly that it made my grandmother cry herself.

My next sister was 12 before she was brave enough; my mother brought her and my 2 other sisters (10, 8) to the mall to have it done. And they did both ears at once. And my sister screamed bloody murder for 30 minutes straight. Mall security came to check it out. It was bad.

My mother had hers done by a friend with a sewing needle and a bar of soap.

ML said...

How exciting for your daughter AND you!! I'm so glad she took it so well. Yeah!

I got my ears pierced when I was 3. I don't remember anything about it. Probably a good thing, cause I don't think they used a gun, but a needle instead.

Parisienne Farmgirl said...

Love this story - how darling!
I got mine done when i was eight - Mom said we were going for a special treat after school. I can still see all those little earrings in my memory -- little red alligators, tiny stars and of course - ruby starter studs for my birthstone.
Post of picture of her much anticipated earrings in 6 weeks.
How sweet.

Lainey-Paney said...

As I read your blog, I could seriously FEEL the sensation [read:pain, serious pain] in my ears as if I were getting the lobes pierced all over again!

OUCH!

your dtr is sooooo brave!

hellomelissa said...

angela-- it was a sore disappointment when my parents okayed my 2nd set of holes without a fight.

autumn's mom-- i can feel your daughter's pain! i wanted more piercings and tattoos at a young age but made myself wait.

j-- good to hear that maya's story had a happy ending. i'm putting bacitracin cream on them every night.

lotus-- i had never heard of using string! how interesting!

cereneone-- like the new id! your story sounds much like what happened when my hubby pierced his ears in high school.

gmcm-- strangely enough, s is much the same as your daughter. i would go so far as to say she's a crybaby! so this was a completely unexpected response.

sruthi-- but you don't have a good story to tell because of it. darn!

beenzzz-- i remember my ears being ON FIRE for several hours afterward.

jay-- oh how awful that your sister made such a ruckus! but it's a great story. :)

ml-- i've heard that the needle is better than the gun. who knows?

parisienne farmgirl-- i had a pair of gold teddy bears awaiting me when i was done with the studs. still have 'em, too.

lainey-painey-- thanks for stopping by! so i guess yours was NOT a good experience? :)

Andie D. said...

My parents made me wait until 11 for some reason. I was a little bitter about that.

When my daughter was born, I knew I wanted to pierce her ears right away. I figured that I was taking care of her every need while she was a newborn anyway, so it would be best if I could take care of her ears too. My hub made me wait until she was 5 months old. She screamed her head off and then fell asleep. She's 20 months old now and loves earrings.

Susan in Italy said...

She's pretty brave. I wasn't allowed to have pierced ears until I was 16, but when my cousin told me you could pierce them yourself (!) we did! We got out the ice to numb the earlobe, each put a potato behind the lobe (so as not to stab ourselves in the side of the head, but oh so hygienic!), sterilized a needle and jammed the thing through. It was gross, but taught me the lengths to which I'd go for vanity!

Anonymous said...

No piercings here. Mrs. L has two holes and rip on one ear, though. Football injury, apparently. So remind s to remove her earrings before wrestling with boys!! :)

Anonymous said...

I remember the day I pierced my ears. I was a young teen and my mom brought me. I remember the STAPLE GUN And then I squeezed my eyes shut. I haven;t worn earrings in a long time...and might still try to pry the holes open with a fork! SO I CAN AVOID another piercing I MEAN!

mrs. Mogul

http://mrsmogul.blogspot.com

Da Mommy said...

I remember doing mine at the mall at about 6, and then doing them again with my friend as a teen (and my mom hit the roof because her mother okayed for both of us, haha) My DD said she wanted hers done at about 8...my best friend (that I got my second piercing with) went with us and she got her ears pierced. She decided the next day that she did not want this, took the earrings out, let them grow over and has NEVER wanted them pierced again. Hmmm. She doesn't care one bit that her friends ears are pierced, I doubt she will ever have them done again.