Earrings

She told me several months back that she wanted her ears pierced.  I told her what to expect.  She decided to wait a little while. I know her enough to not push her to do something she is not ready to do.  And then this last Friday night, she told me she wanted her ears pierced again.  I told her to think about it overnight.  She couldn't sleep all night and kept waking up to say she wanted her ears pierced in the morning. 

When this first came up a few months ago, I had done lots of research.  I checked out all the places that I could take her to get it done.  My first choice - our pediatrician's office - didn't do it.  Regardless of where I took her, I knew I wanted both ears done at the same time.  And what do they say about the best laid plans?

So on Saturday morning she woke up and said she was ready.  She couldn't think of anything else.  And she wanted to do it before we spent the day swimming at my sister's pool.  So off to a local, highly recommended chain store to get her ears pierced. There was only one lady working, and another one didn't come in for a few hours.  My spirited girl just couldn't wait. I explained to her what this meant.  I explained that it meant she would feel one big pinch, and then another one shortly after that instead of two pinches at the same exact time.  She said it was okay and she didn't want to wait until later in the day.  And again, I know when she makes up her mind, there is no changing it.  So I held one of her hands and my sister held her other hand, and her little sister watched and kept saying "ears, ears". 

They had so many more earring choices for ear piercings than I remember. My only restriction in her choice was that she picked her starter earrings from the grouping that had 14k gold posts versus other metals. I was hoping she would go with the traditional studs with her birthstone (like I had done many years ago), but she chose some very cute pink flowers.  They were perfect for her, and she picked them on her own.

I was so proud of her!  She did awesome. As she tells it, she only had one tear fall from her eye.  I could see the pain in her face, but she remained strong.  She was so very excited, and shows everyone that she meets and says "I just go my ears pierced!"

I was seven when I first got my ears pierced.  I would have liked her to wait a little longer, but realized a few years wouldn't really make that big of a difference.  She was ready.  She's been helping with the cleaning and does the turning several times a day. She's so "grown up" and it makes me feel that happy-sad feeling that I've felt several times over the last five years.  I love being her mom, but I am reminded all too often how fast this is happening.

Bye, Bye Binky

I never used a pacifier with The Older One.  She's a thumb-sucker.  I was really rather snobby when it came to pacifiers and didn't want my kids using them, no matter how many times I heard "It's easier to get rid of a pacifier than a thumb".  Then The Little One came along.  She had colic.  I had a few life events.  She got a pacifier.  And we were all so happy. 

Like many babies, she came to rely on the "binky" whole-heartily.  She needed it to soothe herself all the time.  When she wanted it, she would tap her lips twice and say "bink-binks".  And I gladly gave it to her. After months and months and months, I knew I'd need to start considering weaning her off it it.  So this past week,bat twenty months of age and much later than I ever thought I would let her keep it, I decided to simply throw all her pacifiers in the trash.  There was no binky-fairy.  There was no binky tree.  There was simply a question "Can I throw your binkies away?" to which an answer was emphatically returned "Noooooooo!".  I threw them away nonetheless while she watched me, she cried a bit, I gave her a sucker, and the rest is {hopefully} history.

I actually pulled the pacifiers out of the garbage and threw them in a cupboard "just in case".  I also didn't want her digging through the garbage looking for them.  She's asked for her "bink-binks" several times over the past four days, but I gently remind her we threw them away and then say "Yay, Little One!  You are such a big girl!"  If someone asks her what happened to her pacifier, she says "Bye, bye."  Then she fakes a cry and says "sucker".  Smart little kid!

Fingers crossed that we've made it through the rough part!  I don't want to go back to the land of bink-binks!

One of her favorite binkies.

Future Photographer

A little bike ride around the neighborhood with my old point-and-shoot, and T had to stop every few driveways and snap pictures.  (She picked out her own outfit today too).

Oh Those Curls

My little baby is not so little anymore.  I couldn't imagine not having her in my life.  Soon she will be eighteen months.  The time really goes by all too fast, especially when I was looking back on pictures from just a few months ago.