Notice something different?

Elena finally got her ears pierced! She's been wanting pierced ears for 5 years, but hasn't been able to bring herself to actually get it done. The first time we tried she was 6, and when the lady wiped her ear with the alcohol swab to prepare her lobe, she jumped off the seat and ran away.

After I told her that we would not consent to her wishes of carrying her into the store in the middle of the night while she slept so they could pierce her ears without her knowing (that was an actual and totally serious request she made at one point), she finally resigned herself to the fact that she might not ever get up the nerve to pierce them.

When we were in the store the other day and passed by the jewelry counter, I noticed someone else was getting their ears pierced and brought it up. She immediately shot the idea down, but using a heavy dose of reverse psychology combined with a little bribery, I was able to get her to do it. She looked like she was going to pass out leading up to the piercing, but once it was done she didn't even flinch. "How was it?" I asked. "Fine."

And she smiled the rest of the day.

And now I have the opposite battle to fight with Sam, who now wants to get his ear pierced. I'm not sure how I feel about that. We live in a remote enough area that there's probably still a pretty good stigma around young boys with their ear(s) pierced so we'll just stick to the status quo and hold off on that one.