Growing Up

Yesterday my little girl turned 10. Okay, not my littlest girl, but my first girl. I think she thinks she's been 10...or older...for quite a long time now, so it was clearly time to make it official. It's hard to believe a decade has passed since the Christmas we got an extra gift four days early.

Lindsay has wanted to have her ears pierced for a couple of years now, and we figured she was finally ready for the responsibility. So the whole family ventured out to watch this big moment. (Interesting side note...I bought the earrings the day before since it was a surprise and I wanted her to unwrap the earrings to find out we were letting her do this. Believe it or not, the sales lady told me there was a DIY ear-piercing kit available if I wanted to do it at home. Are you kidding? I thought. Who would do that to a child?) NO THANK YOU, MA'AM!

I had warned Lindsay there would be momentary pain, but that the end result would be worth it. She was more than up for the challenge. It wasn't until they had her put her hair up, marked her ears, and placed the piercing guns (do they have to be that big?) within her line of vision that she realized this was really happening and that it truly might cause some discomfort. Some quick butterflies in the stomach, and a last-minute double-check to see if she was ready to go through with it, and the new holes in the head were done simulateously. (Both at once? Why wasn't I given this option so many years ago?)

Here's the photo of her at the moment her ears changed forever. By the way, the arm in the foreground is Dad, holding her hand tight. I couldn't do it...I was holding the camera, of course!

She was tough. One flinch, captured forever on film, and she was fine. Believe me, she kept tossing her hair back all the rest of the day. "Do you think people will realize I'm different now?" she asked.

Definitely different. Little older, little more grown-up looking. More attitude to go with it. But still my little girl. Love you, Lulu!