Estrogen.

Tiny, perfect, cute.

She never skipped a beat.

On the way to get them done. So happy.

So, Jules has been asking to get her ears pierced for about 6 months. Between school and dance, it seems that about 1/3 of her friends have earrings, and of course Julia (our social detective) noticed.

I had no strong feelings on this one. I know some people love tiny babies with pierced ears....others are grossed out by it. I think that earrings are pretty cute, though I rarely wear them. I remember being so excited to get my ears pierced (I was 6). I've never regretted it, and everyone I know has their ears pierced........so I was a little "whatever" on this issue.

Anyway. Yesterday after a long conversation at the pool with a friend (with two young daughters with pierced ears), I was convinced that it was okay for our family to just make this fun, not some bribe laden or adolescent rite of passage.

Jules asked to get her ears pierced again this morning, and because it sounded like a ton more fun than mopping the floor, I said "sure!". Lets do this thing.

The best part was when Nate was about to leave to take the boys to the gym. I dropped a hint that he might want to say something to Jules about being brave......he walked in from the garage, sat down, stared into her eyes, and delivered this awesome verbal missive talking about bravery and citing the historical bravery of Grandma, Mom Mom, Me, and cousin Jenna. It was pure awesome. Watching a big "guys guy" talk to a little girl who owns his heart is seriously fantastic. I was laughing so hard I had to immediately call Grandma and Mom Mom and tell them that they had been entered into the stuff of oral legend for passing along their lineage of brave piercing to my 3 year old.

The one thing that my friend had told me was to make sure to go to a place that could pierce both ears at the same time. She cited stories of horror and one earringed children. I called my Mom and told her, and our friend got on the phone and told me a story about one ear at a time piercing that ended up with an uncle sporting an ear piercing. I was all "OMG I have to find a double piercing place". I made 400 calls. To tattoo parlors (the piercing place of the elitist perfect ear piercing mommy purists who insist that piercing guns are virtually immoral and wrong). I called spas. And salons. I gave it the old college try.

And in the same way that college was meaningless to me, finding a double piercing place produced about the same luck as matriculation did. Jules sobbed every time I hung up the phone with another "no" place. So. So I thought about my ears, and the good luck that I have had with my piercings that I got on my 6th birthday. I asked Jules if she was ready to have it done twice. She said yes.

Did the prep. Talked about pain. Took her. Let her pick out the earrings. She picked her birthstone (some blue fake gem? Am I terrible for not knowing her "birthstone"? Such a weird concept in general). Talked more about how it will hurt.

She got in the chair. She said "Mama, will you hold my hand?" I did. We did the dots, talked, corrected, etc. Gina approached with the *gasp* gun. BANG! I got tears. Julia blinked. She said, "Now the other side?" and Gina did it. (BANG!)

Done. Not a single tear. Like, not only not a tear, but not even a quivery little lip.

Jules knows her mind. My tough little girly girl. I will say that I love the earrings. I don't know if it my inner DiLullo Dego, or what, but I love them. The saleslady tried to upsell us saying "Maybe Mommy wants to buy some pretty earings like YOU?"....and I laughed. I was wearing a tank top, shorts, chacos, a running watch and no make up or shower.........and I was getting my 3 year olds ears pierced. And you know what? It was awesome.

The best thing about having a daughter who is like me yet very different than me is learning how very very much I can love someone for exactly who they are. I delight in our differences. And I will say, she looks damn cute.

When my daughter hugs me and says "Oh MAMA! We are going to be girlfriends FOREVAH!"......well, I hope so, babe. I hope so.