Friday, May 9, 2014

Pookie's Ears

I finally acquiesced and allowed Pookie to get her ears pierced this past weekend.

And I came to the conclusion that I had been using excuses to not allow it for quite some time.

When she was a baby, I didn't have it done on the thought of germs and not being able to keep them clean enough and worries of infection. (One that I still happen to think is completely valid, so I don't count this one as an excuse.)

But since she has been begging since she was about four to have her ears pierced, I have been using other excuses.

"You're not old enough." That one worked for a while. Until she began to recognize the process of time passing and wonder, "When will I be old enough?"

When that question popped up, I said, "When you are eight, that's when I got mine pierced."

Then the whining of began about how far away that was. In her little mind, that was a lifetime.

But the reality was, in retrospect, that I didn't want her to get them done. Why? Because it meant that my little baby was growing up. My sweet, innocent, little girl, would, from then on, not be. Now, I know, that this makes no sense whatsoever. I realize that.

But until the moment after the second earring was poked through her little ear, I would have given you the excuse that she wasn't mature enough to handle cleaning her ears three times a day and they would get infected. (Which does still worry me, but that just means we adults clean her ears.)

The moment after her ears were pierced, and she looked at herself in the mirror, with her shining eyes, so full of joy and happiness, my eyes filled with tears that I had to quickly blink away so I didn't break down crying in the middle of the mall. Instead I hugged her tight and I can't deny a few drops found their way down onto that curly hair.

She is no longer a baby. And she hasn't been for a while. But my little Pookie will always be my baby. She is a seven year old with her own personality but just like me in so many ways. And even though she is no longer a baby, I am so incredibly proud of her.

Maybe this will make it easier when it comes time to let Cookie get her ears pierced. But I wouldn't count on it.

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