Anika is 6 TODAY!

Happy Birthday dear Anika... Anika decided she wanted her ears pierced for her 6th birthday. Dirk and I had not contemplated her wanted this in her younger years... not to say that many families haven't chosen to pierce ears earlier in life... it's just not the way we were raised. Actually, neither of our mothers like the idea of ear (or any other form) of piercing at all.

Anika gets and idea, contemplates the options, and then.... she is SET. Sometimes I wonder if she really needs us (parents) anymore? If we really had any serious objections, of course, she would have had to live with our decision... but we didn't... so our gift to her was a trip to Claire's today to get her ears pierced!

She was talking about "facing her fears" all morning. The point of this was not to make her afraid of anything... or force her to get her ears pierced. So I talked with her about how this was her choice. She could decided not to do it at any moment, even if we were at the store and just about ready to begin. She did not HAVE to get her ears pierced. She said, "if I decide not to do it today, can we go back tomorrow?" I said, "no, if you decided you don't really want it done today, that is just fine. We'll just go to the mall and have a fun 'date' together. But we won't talk about getting your ears pierced until after your 7th birthday."

That didn't sound good to her, I guess... SO, today was THE day! She was happy and excited, and of course a bit nervous. Here we are at Claire's. Waiting for the clerk to start the process! First she cleaned her ears with an alcohol rub. Then they marked the exact spot on each ear with a fine point marker. After mom gave the "OK" on placement... we were ready to go! Can you see the "stress" beginning to show on Anika's face? She went back and forth between this and a cheesy smile the whole time!? She counted to 5... but actually pushed the earring through on "3"... Anika didn't even flinch!! Even for the 2nd ear... She cries more when she gets a shot at the pediatrician's office!! When we were all done, she was very happy!! And couldn't help but tell EVERYONE we saw, the rest of the day... that she had just gotten her ears pierced!