Why look at you Miss Fancy Pants!

As the mother to a little girl, I knew a day would come when she would want to pierce her ears. That was one decision Jeremy and I agreed upon early on, that Riley would not get her ears pierced until she wanted to. So whether she asked at 2, 8, 12 or 20 she would get them when she wanted.

So many parents get their little girl's ears pierced when their still infants. I wanted it to be a decision Riley could make on her own and that we could make a big deal out of. Recently Riley asked about getting her ears pierced. Being the ever so matter-of fact mother that I am, I informed Riley of how they conduct an ear piercing. I told her the truth. I told her it would hurt for a minute, but then it would be fine. Riley retracted her wish for earrings.

A few weeks later (which happened to be a few days ago) Riley cried - yes real tears - that she didn't have her ears pierced like Dora in the Dora and the Explorer Girls series. This was on Tuesday. I told her then that if she still wanted them pierced on Friday, she could have it done. I then enlisted the help of my friend Marisa to be on standby and that she would come with me if Riley really wanted to get them done because I knew Jeremy couldn't handle it.

Today after school I asked her if she still wanted to go. She said yes! I was shocked. I called the Claire's to make sure there would be 2 people working. There was and so off we went!!!

She was so brave. She picked out the earring she wanted (with no help from myself or Marisa) - she chose a flower with different color stones for each petal. She was fine until they had the piercing guns to her ears...then you could see there was a bit of "oh no what did I get myself into" in her face. But 1, 2, 3 - it was done. There were tears, lollipops and a giant roll of Smarties that helped her forget about the pain. It was done. She stood in the store and stared in the mirror for a little while admiring her new jewels.

The walk through the mall to go home was great. Her head was held high and she walked with a new confidence. Riley grew up just a little more today...and believe it or not, I loved every minute of it. It was exactly how I thought it would be.