scaredy cat no more

this weekend was so chock-full of fabulousness, i can't even tell you.  well, i will tell you all about it, but i have to start with this because it's just so awesome.

the bean has been obsessing lately over whether or not she wants to get her ears pierced.  this is the kid who freaks the hell out over the idea of needles of any kind, so you can only imagine the level of difficulty.  it's been a constant debate - one minute she declares she's totally ready to do it, and the next it's "nope, i don't wanna do it."  she talked to her friend mini cee about it, who went to a pediatrician armed with numbing cream and emerged happily with pretty pierced earlobes.

so a new kate spade outlet opened a few days ago at nearby ontario mills, an outlet mall that i used to frequent pretty regularly but haven't been to in years and years.  and we all know that kate spade is the one thing that will definitely make me go pretty much anywhere if i can snag a great deal on it.  and so along with the old lady, her special friend and MIL (both came to town just for the bean's birthday), we headed out to get our steps in and do a little shoppin'.

while we were there, we stopped in at claire's to browse around and stumbled upon their ear piercing station.  the bean eyed the display board with the various designs available and i could practically hear the wheels turning in her head as she perused the options.  she was pretty quiet as we headed out and started walking around, and then as we went from one store to another she quietly told me "mommy, i really want to get my ears pierced today."

WUT.

and so we went about our business, walking the entire loop of the mall and stopping for lunch and then a sweet treat a little later.  after doing a bit of damage at the kate spade store (60% off the whole store, plus another 20% off of handbags!!), we made our way back to claire's where we found a pair of sisters a few years older than our girl who were also there to get their ears pierced for the first time.  they looked nervous, and we chatted with their mom as she filled out the consent forms and tried her best to calm her daughters down.  it really helped the bean as she watched them go from being nervous to calm to ready to pierced, all in the span of maybe ten minutes.

here's one last close-up of her with her virgin earlobes (why yes, she IS wearing cat ears):

as the second sister finished up and hopped out of the chair, she started freaking out a little.  and we kept telling her that it wasn't a requirement and that she could totally change her mind if she wanted to.  after all, i hadn't paid for anything yet and hadn't even completed the form.  but we all knew that she was right on the edge, and if she went home at that point without sucking it up and getting it over with, she'd totally regret it.  the old lady's special friend, who the bean really considers HER special friend, did his best to encourage her and keep her from sprinting from the store as if her feet were on fire.

but when she realized that i'd finished filling out the form and that it was really about to happen, she bolted from the chair and ran towards her sister, locking her arms around her so tight i was afraid she might pop.  we talked her off the ledge again, telling her that it wasn't going to hurt (much) and that it really would be over in an instant, especially since we'd asked for both ears to be done at the same time.  i just knew that if we did them one at a time, she'd totally end up walking out half done because she wouldn't sit there for the second ear to be pierced.

i could only imagine how hard her little heart must've been pounding as the girl came over to clean off her lobes and mark the placement on each ear - first the left:

and then the right.

after a few adjustments to the right ear, we were finally ready to get the show on the road.  she clutched her squishy toy (more on that later), held on to her special friend's fingers, and...

as we'd promised, it was done in mere seconds.  i was really impressed with how she handled it - she mouthed "owwww" when it was over, and heaved the biggest sigh of relief ever.  and the kool-aid smile she burst out with when she looked in that mirror...oh man.

those rainbow sparkle earrings she picked out were really cute, and she was so, so, so proud of herself for finally getting it done.

now it's a good six-ish weeks of leaving them in 24/7, constant turning of the earrings, and cleaning the holes at least twice a day.  she can't remove them or change them out until damn near christmastime, although since we chose 14k white gold posts she can pretty much leave these in forever if she wants to.

talk about kicking off her 10th year of life with a bang, huh?