Her question led to an immediate conversation with her Mother about their adventures with ear piercing. It involved the ear fairy sneaking into your room at night to clean them and lots of crying.
Then I looked back to my own experience with piercing. My Mother never pierced my ears as a baby because she wanted me to make my own choice. Her and my Father both thought I would choose to get them done in elementary school. I remember them offering to take me and even standing in the mall watching other people do it. I was TERRIFIED of getting it done and I remember telling my Mom I wish they had been done as a baby. I was 18 years old before I finally did it- because I wanted to wear earrings at my wedding- and one of my Bridesmaids had to get 2 holes in each 1st before I went through with it. Turns out it was not a big deal- felt like a vaccination. I ended up with a second hole in each ear and a cartilage piercing within a year.
Next I did what any self respecting GenerationY Mom would do- I looked online to see what Mommybloggers had to say about it. I saw words like "Child Abuse" and "Body Modification". Ear piercing was likened to infant circumcision (something I wouldn't do to my son). Apparently it's creepy to look at and it takes away a special Mother/Daughter moment and milestone from the child who deos it at an older age. I also saw that it is a very common old school practice in the Italian (me) and Latin (Cataleya) cultures to have your baby girl wear gold earrings. Some people citing their Grandmothers and Aunts sneaking needles into birthing rooms to pierce the baby's ears before they were even discharged.
I took into account:
My 8yr old buddy's opinion that earrings are cool.
The fact that babies with earrings are adorable.
My effort to maintain Cataleya's ethnic heritage.
I wanted to do it.
If she didn't like my choice Cat could always take earrings out, but wouldn't be able to go back and have them done as a baby like I wish my Mom had done.
My Mom was so excited and wanted to go together. So we waited until after Cat's 4 mo vaccinations per suggestions from the world wide web, and took her to the mall on Mother's day. We picked out the cutest little gold hearts with a pink stone in the center.
It took the technician a couple of tries with the marker to get the placement even, and Cataleya was super mad that I was holding her face while they put a dot of marker on her just to wipe it away with an alcohol swab and do it again. After the marks were just right, I held her and she calmed a little.
She was still whimpering when two technicians pierced her ears simultaneously. She never flinched or cried harder for the piercing. She was mostly offended by the marker. I hugged her as soon as it was done and she stopped as soon as we got up and started walking.
She hasn't touched them at all and she lets me clean and twist them twice/day with no fuss. I'm really glad we decided to go for it.
She looks so cute with them!!
I will have to share this one with Ally, she is sure to get a kick out of it!
ReplyDeleteAdorable! I wish I could have my (foster) girls' ears pierced. If one more person says, "Oh twins! A girl and a boy?" WHILE they have barrettes in their hair...
ReplyDeleteI haven't done our daughter's yet. We couldn't get them done (without bios permission) until she was adopted since she came to us as a foster. We didn't adopt her until she was 2 which meant infant piercing was not an option. As a 1 and 2 year old she could pitch a mean fit which often meant pulling her hair bows & ties right out of her hair and with THAT behavior I didn't want to put earrings in - not yet. So, now I think we're in the boat of waiting until she's a little bit older but not grown - maybe 5 or so? We'll see.
ReplyDelete