pierced ears

kate got her ears pierced last night. my own mom wasn't going to let me get mine pierced until i was 13 but relented when i was 9 because everyone thought i was a boy. i never thought piercing your ears was a big deal so i always said that when kate asked for it, i'd let her.

we've been playing this game for a few months: i ask kate if she wants to get her ears pierced, she grabs her ears with a look of fright on her face and says 'maybe tomorrow'. clearly not ready for it. but last night we met jeff at the mall to run some errands and we passed libby lu. i asked kate if she wanted to get her ears pierced and she said 'ok!'. i wasn't quite prepared - i really thought she'd say 'maybe tomorrow'.

so we went in. we picked out a pair of earrings. she sat in my lap. i told her again and again that if she didn't want to do it, we could leave. she said she wanted to. the woman pierced the first ear and kate let out a blood curdling scream that the entire mall must have heard. my heart sank into my toes and broke when it hit the floor. the woman quickly did the other ear which brought about another scream and i hugged kate to my chest, trying to absorb the pain.

she was fine 5 minutes later - as soon as we told her she could choose where we went for dinner. she chose the cheesecake factory (how is she my daughter??).

i'll post a picture later today.