First Piercing

After the Lego store we stopped at one of the directories to see if there was anything else in the mall we wouldn't want to miss(mostly because I hate nothing more than a mall and if I'm going in one I want to make the most of it).  There was nothing else we wanted to do, but we noticed a Claire's.  We'd been talking about Paige getting her ears pierced, because she's been begging, and we were thinking we'd have her wait until her birthday in November.  Lately though, I'd been wondering if we should just do it early, but FOR her birthday, while we're still in OKC and have more options as far as places to have it done, and more earring choices probably too.  

So once we noticed Claire's, we quietly talked about it, and decided it was fine with us.  So we asked Paige if she wanted to do it.  She got excited and said yes of course.  As we walked there, she held my hand and got more and more nervous.  She was smiling but kept saying stuff like "You know when you really want to do something, but you don't want to do it at the same time?"  Ha.  

In the store she looked through the earring choices, and I asked the lady a few questions.  We found out there was only one that day who could do it, so she'd definitely have to do one ear at a time.  I told her we could do it that day, and explained to her that it would hurt and the second one would be even scarier because she would know the pain was coming.  I told her if she wanted we could come back in a few days when they could do them at the same time.  She chose to get them done one at a time, if they would let her hug me while they did it.  (She's about as patient as I am)  I asked, and they said she could even sit in my lap. 

So that's what we did.  Paige is always very tough when she's in pain, but this is different, purposely doing something that you know is about to hurt you, so I wasn't sure how she'd handle it.  Just like I should have expected, she sat in my lap, and looked really nervous but just got quiet.  

The lady took quite a while prepping and marking Paige's ears and all of that.  I felt bad for Paige, it was kind of excruciating.  When it was time, Paige leaned against me and sort of hugged my arms and held really still.  I heard the click, and it sounded worse than I expected, and I felt Paige's body tense up really hard.  I remember thinking it hurt quite a bit when I was little, but I also didn't know if I'm just a wuss.  I was kind of hoping that was it.  But Paige is definitely not a wuss and feeling how she tensed up made me SO much more sad than I expected.  So the second ear was even worse.  She never made a sound at all, just tensed up each time.  The girl told her it's okay to cry, but of course Paige wouldn't.

 I started to, however.  Ha.  It was a weird feeling.  I knew it wasn't going to be FUN, or anything, but it caught me off guard how sad it made me.  A mixture of being sad about her hurting, and how tough she was about it, AND just the fact that she's old enough to be deciding to get her ears pierced.  I didn't start sobbing in the store or anything, just teared up a bit.  Ha.  Such a wimp.  

When we left we were telling her how proud we are of her for how tough she was.  I told her we need to take really good care of them and make sure they don't get infected or close up, so that she never has to have them done again.  She goes "If they DID close up, I wouldn't get them done again.  Not until I'm grown up anyway."  Ha. 

Funny I wanted to have it done here so she'd have more choices, but she went with the basic birth stone ones you can probably get everywhere you have them pierced.  :)  They're really cute though.  

The redness was already gone by the time we got home.  

After watching her, I kind of hope Neely doesn't care to have them done.