Our Little Brave Heart

This is our Soapy. She has wanted her ears pierced for the past several weeks.

When I had my two daughters, I had tough time deciding when to have their ears pierced. Many people told me it's best to have them done when they are an infant and if not, wait until they are 8 or 9. When I missed the opportunity to have my girls pierced when they were baby, I honestly thought that they're not going to get their ears pierced until they become teenager.

But oh boy, was I wrong or what?

"Can I get my ears pierced, Mommy?" - that's what Soapy has asked me non-stop, whenever she had chance. I told her it's going to hurt her. But no, she insists she wants it, NOW!

So, my husband and I along with Soapy and her older sister JuJu went to the mall. When we arrived at Claire's, it was 1:20pm. I talked to an employee that my daughter wants her ears pierced. I asked if there is another person who can assist her, so both ears get pierced at the same time. The lady said that another girl supposed to show up at 3:30pm IF she is not late.... She agreed it's better she has another girl to do my daughter's both ears because if she does it alone, we might not be able to get Soapy's both ears pierced. So we decided to walk around and have some late lunch.

We got back to the store a little past 3:30pm. The lady said that the other employee is running late, stuck in traffic. Okay. We talked to Soapy if she wanted to wait or come back for another day. Her answer was of course, she wanted to wait.

4pm - no sign of the employee. The lady told me she's going to call the girl to see how long it would take her to get to the mall. JT was getting antsy and started to say that we should definitely come back because he wouldn't want anyone to mess up Soapy's ears. Now Soapy wouldn't want to leave, no matter what. 4:30pm, as I was trying to convice Soapy to go home because it's getting really late, we saw the girl finally walked in to the store....

Now, the lady asked me to go over the waiver and sign the paperwork. Soapy picked the crystal 14k gold earings. JT and I both asked her it's going to hurt a bit and made sure that's what she wanted to do. She nodded and said, "I want it..."

Two ladies standing in front of Soapy, the boss employee gave her a teddy bear to hold onto and I held her tiny hand... The lady said, "Are you ready? Count three... 3, 2, 1..."

The shock on Soapy's face was something I'll never forget. I think she didn't expect the pain. But she didn't cry. The tears overflow her tiny eyes, but she did everything she could to hold back the tears. Everything was done so quickly. I picked Soapy up from the chair and held her and said, "Soapy, it's okay if you want to cry. It's okay..." Soapy finally started to sob a bit, but never a scream. I could hear her tiny voice and the shoulder going up and down... It lasted probablly a minute or two, but that's it. The lady at the store was so amazed that she didn't cry so hard. After 3 hours at the mall - I think it was wroth the wait.

Now, where was her big sister Ju Ju who is 5??? She was behind her daddy's legs, peeking through what was happening to her little sister. We asked her if she wanted to do it, but she said, "NO! I am scared!" - hey, she is older than Soapy. If she could do it, Ju Ju should be able to do it, right??? But no, she was traumatized by the immunization six months ago when she had to have five shots in one day. She totally remembers the pain, so she aint having none of that. Although she was kind of tempted because those earings do look pretty. I told Ju Ju, she doesn't have to do anything that she feels uncomfortable. No peer pressure. She will know when she wants to do it.

So this was the story about our 3 year old daughter who is so brave; our little brave heart.

By the way, I'm planning to have two cartilage piercing - first time when I did it during my senior year in high school, it got infected, so I had to get rid of it. But this time I am hoping they will turn out fine.

So everyone, how old were you when you had your ears pierced for the first time? Do you have any piercing in a weird place???