It was a big decision for me, and frankly, I was tired of the begging. Maya can wear me down in a way that Ben doesn’t and never has, and while a “No!” and maybe an abrupt departure home was always enough to stop Ben from continuous begging whilst shopping, it doesn’t even break Maya’s stride. I made the unfortunate mistake of mentioning Christmas the other day, and she has made so many lists to Santa I had to pick up Santa letter litter before it became a hazard. Also, I am tired of being asked to spell “baby unicorn.”
Maya has wanted pierced ears for months now, and I’ve been wavering. On the one hand, ear-piercing is a great thing to do for a girl transitioning to adolescence. On the other hand, my mom waited until I was 9, and then I had to get them pierced 3 different times before the piercing took (I think I was around 11 by that time). I’ve heard younger is better for piercings, so I finally gave in and took her to Claire’s at the mall to watch piercings and decide what to do.
She watched two piercings before her and the adolescent girl and college student took it in stride (well, the college student teared up, but I don’t think Maya noticed), so she was eager going in. I thought about asking for both techs to do an ear each, so we wouldn’t end up with a one-earring ‘holy crap that hurt you can’t do the other one’ kind of situation, but the tech was fast and before I even knew what was happening, she’d done ear number one and was started on number two.
Maya kind of froze when it happened, and I thought to myself, ‘Hey, that college student must have just been a giant wuss,’ when the tech asked if she was okay. She shook her head no, and looked at me with the most tragic eyes you’ve ever seen, after which she buried her head on my shoulder and sobbed. Let me tell you, I felt like the grinch, the wicked witch of the west and Bad Mother Of The Year all rolled into one in that moment. She begged to take them out, but I knew that would hurt worse (remember: three times. I had my ears pierced three times, my nose once, and well, that’s all you need to know, stranger). So I told her that, if they still hurt after we got home, I would take them out.
Maya was so sad and tragic she forgot to beg me for the butterfly hair band she wanted, even ignoring me when I offered to buy it for her. Oh yes, I totally went there…can I soothe your grief with some consumerism? But no, she just wanted me. And I just wanted to grovel.
Afterward we went to the play area, where she announced that the right ear no longer hurt. Twenty minutes later, she declared everything was fine, and I basked in the sun of watching her leap off rubber mats and slide down desert-animal slides.
We made it through day 1, although she won’t let me touch her ears or her earrings. I’m curious to see how the 3x a day disinfectant care is going to go, or whether we’ll have to abandon those titanium studs until she’s older. But, right now, I’m proud of my fearless little girl, and still a little traumatized that I actually paid someone to pierce a hole in her flesh.
