Full-circle moment

Check out the shiny ear bob sitting in my dear Amelia's left lobe! There's also one in her right ear, but I was unable to snap a decent photo of that side of her head.

Nevertheless, my gal finally opted to have her ears pierced after many years of proclaiming she would never let someone punch holes in her lobes. Her fear was born a few years ago after watching one of the Gosselin twins get her ears pierced on an episode of the now-defunct "Jon and Kate Plus Eight." Mady produced copious amounts of tears after her ear-piercing causing Amelia to decide no fashion accessory was worth that much pain.

However, she's been curious about having pierced ears ever since a handful of her friends got their ears pierced last year in first grade. Jeff and I both have pierced ears, although he no longer wears earrings. I have four holes in my left ear and three in my right while Jeff has two in his left ear and one in his right. Knowing we've both been through the process of getting our ears pierced, Amelia has numerous times quizzed each of us about our experiences. We've both shared that it's a process that comes with pain, but it's a pain that doesn't last.

Even with our assurances, Amelia continued to remember the reaction she witnessed from Mady Gosselin and decided she'd rather live a life without earrings. Jeff and I told her the choice was hers to make and left it at that.

It was Amelia's great-aunt - Auntie Tee - who convinced Amelia to go ahead and get her ears pierced and she made the event possible thanks to a tube of Emla cream, a prescription-strength local anesthetic that deeply numbs the area on which it is placed.

Auntie Tee - who is the baby sister of my momma - keeps Emla on hand for when she needs to visit the orthopedist for a steroid injection to get her joints moving properly. However, it proved to be the perfect solution for Amelia's fear of pain from getting her ears pierced.

A couple of hours prior to visiting the jewelry counter at Walmart, Auntie Tee slathered Amelia's ear lobes with Emla. Her "trick" worked like a charm because Amelia reported she didn't feel a thing when Auntie Tee pinched her ears "real hard" a while after the cream had taken effect.

The piercing went off without a hitch, and Amelia didn't issue a complaint until several hours after Auntie Tee had brought her home. I gave Amelia some Motrin to ease the pain and reduce the swelling, but that's the only dose she's had to take. She's been good to go for over a week now and has done a terrific job of cleaning around her earrings and turning them three times a day.

Amelia being taken to get her ears pierced by Auntie Tee was, for me, a full-circle moment because Auntie Tee took me to get not only my first set of earrings, but also my second. I was not yet a toddler when she took me to get my first piercings so I don't recall that trip; but I can remember quite a bit of our trip to get my second set of holes seeing as how I was, I believe, six years old at the time.

I think it's just precious that this milestone event has become a tradition in our family to be shared with Auntie Tee. She's already got another eager girl waiting in the wings to get her ears pierced as Lola has announced she wanted to get her ears "pinched" too.

I told Lola she would be able to get earrings when she mastered going to the potty - something she's been struggling with for quite a while. Nothing has motivated her to master this task like the promise of getting some ear bobs of her very own so Auntie Tee may be making another trip to the Walmart jewelry counter in the near future.

I just hope she still has some of that Emla cream.

Auntie Tee is pictured on the left with her daughter Dee Dee and grandson Connor. I felt it important to show that while she is my girls' great-aunt, she in no way looks old enough to be anyone's great-anything. Time has been very good to Auntie Tee, and she is a master at keeping herself in tip-top shape. She could give lessons on how to go through life looking 20 years younger than your actual age. Her daughter has obviously benefited from her mother's ability to stave off the aging process as she still looks 25 even though she has a 16-year-old son.