Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Well, if that's her rationale

So, yesterday morning, I'm in the bathroom putting on "my face" and Anna Marie, just having finished her breakfast, comes in.

Mom, she whispers, Can I tell you something in your ear?

Keep in mind, we were the only two in the house at the time. Jason had long since - like, five hours since - left for Memphis.

I lean in, and this is what I hear:

Can I get my ears pierced?

This, from the girl who has been asking me for the past couple of years if she HAD to get them done, because she didn't want to, because she was afraid it would hurt.

(Ok, so it does hurt, but only momentarily. Or so I recall.)

And, apparently she meant "this afternoon after school."

We talked about her behavior - despite the Warrior of the Week accolades of last week, this has not been so stellar a past few days. I also told her that we'd have to talk to her dad, since he was the other parent, and see what he thought about it.

Oh, and wait until you hear what comes next:

I have an empty space here (touches ear lobe on right ear) And here (touches ear lobe on left ear.)

I didn't think much else about it, until tonight when I was putting her to bed and she brought it up again. Her question this time (she's like Moses with Sodom and Gomorrah or something) was, if she stayed on green all next week, could she do it.

I told her to stay on green, and we'd talk about it.

Then, she's trying to bargain with me - if she stays on green for the next two days, can she get it done? Like, this weekend?

I informed her that we probably wouldn't be going anywhere this weekend that performed such a service, and she reminded me that our friendly neighborhood Walmart was just such a place. Not that I have anything against WM, mind you - that's where mine was done, and I used to work in the jewelry department and shot a few holes myself - but I also know that the quality of the job is directly proportional to lots of things which are highly volatile, like the skill of the worker and the scream volume of the kid.

(Jason's asking me where a "legitimate" place is, like WM is some sort of seedy underground blackmarket piercing operation.)

Anyway, again with the rationale - she has two empty plots of skin on her ears; ergo, they must be adorned.

I must say, I'm a little frightened by her reasoning, because if empty skin is going to be the only measure for where to get stuck, she may well end up looking like my brother - who has a plethora of piercings.

I just don't know if I'm ready for my little girl to get it done - I was eight, and had to get like, straight A's for like, a whole semester. If she gets it just for staying on green a few times, that like, totally cheapens the whole experience.

Rest assured, though - if and when it happens, y'all will be kept up-to-date on the saga.

Thank God for camera phones.

7 comments:

Heather {Desperately Seeking Sanity} said...

Samara was 5 when she got it done and it was a result of a bribe. Like, if you start going to bed at 8, sleeping through the night, IN YOUR OWN BED, I will let you get your ears pierced.

And that's what did it. Although she still comes in my room about once a week.

Susie Q said...

It is hard when they begin to want such things...they grow up so fast. But, she would be adorable in them. I know, I know, I should keep my mouth shut! : )When Grace asked for ears to be pierced I was going to say not yet but her Kindergarten teacher told me that she was the ONLY girl NOT to have them and felt out of place. Now, which is worse? Me caving into peer pressure or the fact that ALL these K girls had ears pierced? Anyway, I was convinced that she would bug out at the last moment but nope. She hung in there and loved it.
Since then, she has always wanted Mom to change her earrings. As of last month, she began doing it herself. *sniff* Growing up so fast...

I am sitting here smiling at the thought of AM saying her ears are bare here....and here...she is adorable. Yup. With a capital A.

Love,
Sue

doodlebugmom said...

I am 43 and still don't have mine pierced! My oldest got hers done when she was 12, hated it, let them close up,got them redone at 18. My youngest is such a tomboy, no desire to get hers done.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Mallory just got an ear piercing gun. WE could do it!

P.S. Please don't get AM's ears pierced yet!

Wendster said...

I'm feeling out of place. LOL. In So Cal I am surrounded by people of mexican decent and they have THEIRS done at 3 months old. So a kid in grade school asking for pierced ears seems fine to me. But I like the idea of using it as leverage ... a carrot to get something you want from AM. That's totally fair.

My daughters and I waited FOREVER to do ours.
My mother raised me to believe that it was like a perversion to have a piercing ... not in alignment with God's will otherwise he would have created us with them. I finally got mine done with my girls when I was 42. But we all had trouble with ours. I'm sure my mom would say: That's God talking to you! LOL.

Good luck with your decision!

Anonymous said...

Oh, you've got to set a policy. I told my girls they could have their ears pierced at 10, if they so desired, but my 12 year old has NO such desire, so that makes it easy with that one, at least.

Melissa said...

I think I'm going to try to hold her off until she's seven. Or, if her behavior DRAMATICALLY improves over the next eight school days, maybe before then.

If I did it this summer, I would have to be sure that I timed it so they weren't needing to come out while she's in SC with Jason.

Wendy, my mom didn't get hers done until she was about 40 - my grandfather was a very strict preacher man, and he totally forbade any such nonsense!

She did tell my mom that a bunch of girls in her class had gotten theirs done at about the same time, but I really want to try to hold her off a bit!