Lately

I took both gals to have their ear pierced on separate weekends lately.  It is an early birthday present.  We did Kate's so early because she will probably have surgery in December to remove the screw in her elbow.  We wanted to give her ears as long as possible to heal before then.  As I was caring for her ears, I decided it would be much easier to line them up and do them together, rather than care for Kate's for six weeks and then another six for Gabby.  Five was the age we offered to get Kate's pierced (actually I took Kate when she was five, but she backed out at the last minute).

Thankfully the girls have not had the trouble my sister and I did with ear piercing.  We both reacted to the surgical steel posts.  Every time we got them pierced we had infections that caused us to have to take the earrings out.  Finally, as teenagers we were able to get our ears pierced and use gold earrings which prevented the problems.

So, from our experiences, my gals have gold earrings and, at least so far, no problems aside from a hang up with the piercing gun with Gabby.  The poor girl had a rough time of it.  That caused the back of her ear to get caught in the earring back, which I found the first time I went to turn her earrings.  It was painful for her when I fixed it, but I was grateful that I could get it loose!  She was such a tough little cookie.  The next time I went to turn her earrings she thanked me for getting it loose for her.  I think most kids would have been really mad that someone had hurt them!

I took both of the girls to the food court for their choice of lunch after they had their ears done.  Kate picked grilled sandwiches and Gabriella picked pizza.