A rite of passage for a little girl

I've written about this before. In our house, we don't believe that you do things like pierce the ears of a child without their desire.

Our 9 year old has had her ears pierced for a while. Her mom was really excited when she wanted to get them pierced. For some reason, I wasn't. She passed the test which means she came to me on her own and had to ask me if she could get her ears pierced. I then proceeded to grill her with a series of questions that are both scary (Do you know that this will hurt?) to showing signs of resposibility. When she succeeded, I knew my baby girl was growing up. I hate that.

Our 5 year old has been asking to get her ears pierced for a while now. She's even passed the interview with daddy. Finding the right time to do it was proving to be a challenge.

For little girls, it was suggested that we do this at a time when the store had two staff available. That way, each ear could be pierced simultaneously. Not a bad idea.

Now - a rite of passage for a little girl: in pictures

This week was spring break. Mom had a lighter load at school and the local Claire's had 2 staff working Friday afternoon. The chair you see here was ready and the time was right.

She chose her big sister as the person she wanted to hold hands with. She was a little scared but to say she wasn't excited would be a colossal undersatement.

Her hair was pulled back revealing the smile that had been on her face since we told her where she was going. She so wants to be a big girl.

She was really trooper and just sat so still while the clerk marked the spot. It took a couple times to find the right spot everyone agreed on. She didn't wiggle a bit. I didn't even know that was possible.

There's that smile. I think she's ready!!!

All done! Look the smile is still there. All looks good.

Well, she held her smile for a minute. And that's the full 60 seconds, but the waterworks did finally start. She was so brave for sooo long! My heart broke.

But in the end, my baby girl became a little girl. She's really happy with the results and has been going out of her way to make sure everyone knows. She's a big girl now...look! Can't you see my ears?