Brave Little Girl

Everytime we go to the mall, I always ask Kenadie if she wants to get her ears pierced and she says, "No!" I can't say I blame her because I know that it hurts. When I was almost 5, my mom took me to get my ears pierced and everything was fine and dandy until the lady punched the first hole. I screamed and she went to the other ear, but I grabbed her arm and wouldn't let go. No way was I going to let her come near me again!!! So, my mom let me go around for awhile with only one ear pierced. To this day I don't know what possessed her to let me look like that! I have a few school pictures I'm trying to dig up as proof, but I haven't been successful yet, I may need to go to my parent's house and look through the old albums.
Anyway, Kenadie has been telling us the last few days that she wants to get her ears pierced. I just brushed it off and figured she would ask for something else tomorrow, but I was wrong. This morning when she woke up, the first thing she said to me was, "Mom, I really want to get my ears pierced!" So I started calling around to different Salons and found only one that would do it. (I didn't want to have to drive all the way to the mall.) An hour or so later we found ourselves inside The Doll House, which is next to a tattoo and piercing place, inbetween Arby's and Smith's. On the way there I told Kenadie that it was okay to cry but that if she didn't I would give her $10. I seriously thought she was going to be a big crier, but boy was I wrong! The only woman who could do it was a British lady and she was so sweet! She put Kenadie up on the chair and was talking to her, asking her name and such, while she prepared "the gun". She told Kenadie to count to 10, and to make sure she didn't stop until she got to 10. It worked like a charm and her first ear was pierced by the time she got to 3 and Kenadie kept on counting like nothing even happened! The second ear went just as smoothly as the first and that was it! NO TEARS!!! I was shocked! Kenadie would later tell me that it hurt, but she wanted her $10 and she also didn't want to stop counting before she got to 10 because that's what the lady told her to do. We got our instructions on how to care for the newly pierced ears and we were on our way to the store. Kenadie picked a Snow White doll that was $9.99 and I took care of the tax for her! She talked non-stop all day about her ears being pierced. She even stopped while practicing piano to ask me if we were in a dream. I asked her why and she said, "I just can't believe I got my ears pierced!" I told her to pinch herself and then she would know she's not sleeping.
Oh, and we didn't tell Chris what we had done until he got home from work. In previous conversations about ear-piercing he requested not to be involved because he didn't want to see anyone inflict any pain on one of his girls! I'm sure he thought it would be a couple of more years before the day would come. When he got home from work, he went to kiss her forehead, like he always does, and stopped short when he noticed her ears. It was pretty funny because he turned her lobe so that he could see the back, almost like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Then he immediately looked at Kamryn to see if she had it done as well, but her ears are still hole-less. I'll let her make that decision when she's older.
Sorry this has been such a long post, but it was quite the day! I can't believe how big Kenadie is getting and that she will be in first grade on Monday! It amazes me how fast time has gone since she was born!
Here are the before, during and after pics!