Wee-wind Wednesday: Abigail gets her ears peeled

About six months ago, Abigail took great notice of her big cousin Charleigh's "peeled ears." She asked if she could gets her ears peeled.

My initial thought was, "Heck no chick. You are way too young. I was much older. Like nine."

But my parental philosophy has always been, "Say no only when you have to." The idea behind that is that I say no about 95,000 times per day. If something doesn't need a no, don't say it.

I talked to JB, and he agreed that she seemed very young. We decided to dissuade her by telling her how much it would hurt. Her response was, and I quote: "That's okay. I'll just cry for a minute."

So instead we told her she had to earn her earrings. She needed to stay dry, overnight, for one week straight. We thought that would take a long time. 

It took a month.

So we decided to time her staying dry reward with her birthday. She turns 4 tomorrow. JB has to work tomorrow, and the only place I could find near us that does this was Knoxville (about 90 minutes away.) 

So yesterday was the day. We headed to Claire's. A big thank you to my cousin Briana for taking these photos. She and Ryan joined us for the festivities.

All smiles -- and wanting to wink -- as we filled out the paperwork.

Reality starting to sink in.

Time to sit in the big chair. At this point you could read all over her face what she was feeling.

I am still amazed that a four year old is able to contemplate, "I know this is going to hurt, but the end result is worth it."

She asked JB to stand next to her.

Then she asked him to hold her. After that, the job was done. She DID cry, but by the time we took her out for a German lunch to celebrate her birthday ....

... she was all smiles and back to winking again!

I can't help but wee-wind to where I was on this day four years ago. I had just picked JB up from the airport in Germany, and we were getting ready to go in for my c-section prep the next day. Four years later, and our little German-born blondie is getting ready to turn 4. 

Happy Birthday Sweetie pie. I love you more than I can ever explain.