Just like Cinderella

We got Elise's ears pierced a couple of weeks ago. She cried when Emilie and Claire got theirs done last year and she didn't. So I planned to take her a few weeks before her 3rd birthday to get hers done. Of course she was so excited to go to the mall and get them pierced. We went into Claire's Boutique and picked out earrings (aquamarine- March's birthstone), filled out the paperwork, and got into the chair outside the store. Then the ear piercer announced that she was going to use a marker to make little dots on Elise's ear lobes. I guess reality set in. Elise freaked out and threw a fit. Soon we were surrounded by women- just shoppers in the mall- trying to tell Elise how neat it would be to have pierced ears. Its funny how every woman remembers getting her ears pierced. Its kind of a rite of passage, I guess.

Just as I was about to give up and try another day, inspiration struck: I told Elise that if she got her ears pierced, she would have earrings the same color as Cinderella's dress. Now, anyone who knows Elise knows that she spent months carrying around a 3 inch tall Cinderella doll. Cinderella went everywhere and slept on the table near her bed. Cinderella has only recently had to share her coveted position with a My Little Pony figurine. In fact you can see Cinderella in the picture. Anyway, back to my story: That was all it took. Elise would go through anything to look like Cinderella. She let the ear piercers mark and pierce her ears. She only cried a little bit afterwards. A Mrs. Fields cookie took care of that though. And now everyone can see her "Cinderella" earrings.

p.s. For anyone who is going to pierce their daughter's ears, I highly recommend calling ahead and finding out when there will be 2 piercers available. They each take an ear and pierce at the same time. Much less traumatic for all involved that way.