Gracen’s been talking about having her ears pierced for ages now, but being the sometimes cautious, emotionally sensitive kiddo that she is, she didn’t actually want to go through the process of getting them done. She loved the idea of being able to wear pretty earrings, but it wasn’t enough for her to take the plunge. So we left it at that. She knew that we were happy to take her, but only when she was ready.
Well, guess what happened today!
After having put off several purchases, returns, and errands for weeks {as you do on summer holidays}, we decided that we’d spend the day at the mall and get everything done in one go. I forget how it came up exactly, but Miss G mentioned something about getting her ears pierced while there and we decided that we’d simply go and check it out so that she’d be prepared when the time came. Well, as we walked towards Claire’s hand-in-hand, she turned towards me with a confident grin and said, ‘I think I’m going to do it today!’ {Side note: While I would have preferred to take her to a proper piercing parlour to have them done, she wasn’t at all on board with the whole needle thing, so Claire’s it was.} As we headed to the back of the store to check things out, an older boy {probably 8 or 9} was having one of his ears pierced, so we browsed / nonchalantly observed from afar. It’s probably one of the best things that could have happened because although he did say that it hurt, there was no big reaction, no jump, no tears. Which is probably exactly what Miss G needed to see. Confident in her decision to have them done then and there, Miss G picked out her earrings and got up in the chair. The manager who was doing them for us was absolutely lovely and put Grae’s nerves at ease by being reassuring, but not so over the top that it seemed insincere. Grae was definitely nervous, but as they got everything prepared, we had a few big hugs and talked about what she could do just before getting them pierced {gently close her eyes, think happy thoughts, take long, slow breaths, etc.} When the time came, she sat there perfectly still and even asked me to take a video of it happening. And because I’d requested that both sides be done at once, it was over in a snap!
After the piercings were done, she did sort of frown and say that it hurt, but that was it. No tears! I cleaned them for her while the Claire’s manager held Sam for me and we were on our way, freshly pierced. ☺
Here’s her before…
