Big Day

I've been waiting for 5 days for Josh's "amazing" iphone to send me the picture he snapped of Hannah getting her ears pierced on Saturday, but I will wait no longer. For all its genius, that dang phone can't seem to figure out how to send a simple email. Geez. Sorry to all of you iphone users out there. It's really cool in a lot of ways, but when it comes to taking and sending pictures, it stinks. Apple needs to figure that one out.

OK, enough of my complaining--Hannah was awesome! She and Josh had planned to go Ice Skating for their date on Saturday. That morning she suggested another idea for their big day--piercing her ears. Not exactly date-material in Josh's book, but equally significant and exciting for a growing little girl. He knew he didn't want to be the one to take her, so I suggested that we all take a trip to the mall and get out of the house to play--and possibly find our way to Claire's.

Off to the mall we went--we ate lunch and let the kids play in the small germ-infested play area in the middle of the food court. The kids had a blast, and it was fun to sit and watch them play with the million other kids who were there (apparently we weren't the only ones who wanted to get out of the house). We didn't reveal our destination until we walked into the store and asked her to pick out some earrings.

The experience was slightly intimidating because the store was packed to standing room only, and a crowd gathered around Hannah (inside the store--and out!) to watch the little girl in the window get her ears pierced for the first time. I tried to remain as calm as possible, but my heart was racing for her, hoping she would do well, and not wanting her to feel the pressure of 20 sets of eyes focused on her. Slightly weird, in my opinion. I'd be curious if there's some intentional marketing tactic assigned to their ear-piercing-in-the-window method, but that's another conversation.

Anyway, after she picked out her white diamond flower studs (so cute, they are), she sat down and immediately began to squirm. The store manager handed me a clipboard of release forms to fill out and started the sanitizing process. The pressure started to get to her.

"Mom, why does it have to hurt?" she asked.

Forty eyes bored into the back of my head as I said, "There's no other way to get a hole in your ear, Sweetie. You have to want the earrings more than you're afraid of the pain. Do you still want them?"

Please want them, please still want them, rang the chant inside my mind as I tried to look as nonchalant as possible, trying to protect her from feeling any more pressure than she already felt.

"I don't know," she half-mumbled, half-nervously giggled in her Hannah way.

Meanwhile, the Manager continued prepping and picked up the marker to put a "target" dot on Hannah's ear.

Hannah jumped a little, "Are you going to do it?" she asked, startled when the lady touched her ears without any warning.

"Not yet, Honey. The manager is just putting a little dot on your ear to make sure that the earrings go in just the right spot," I assured her. "We'll wait for you to tell us when you're ready," I said confidently, making sure that the manager knew she better not touch my baby's ears again without my go-ahead.

Did I mention that the store was packed? And that there was only one other employee to manage the cash register during this whole scene? It was crazy, and while I tried to appear peaceful and calm, inside I was struggling to supress the voice that kept chanting, Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up.

The ear-piercing-lady, who was neither sympathetic, nor visibly irritated, but almost annoyingly void of any emotion, got the earrings plugged into the plastic puncturing device and held them up, ready to aim and shoot at my command.

"Are you ready, Hannah?" I asked.

"I don't know," she squirmed.

"Sweetie, you have to decide, yes or no. You have to want these earrings so badly that you're willing to take the pain. If you're not ready, we can come back another day. Do you want them?" I asked.

"I don't know," she whined, tormented by the weight of this decision.

We went back and forth a couple of times before I encouraged her a little more, "Hannah, I think you're ready and that you're going to do great. Let's do this. Okay?"

"Okay," she squeeked out.

The manager did the first ear and she winced as she waited for the promised "cold" solution to drench her wound. She was momentarily relieved, but quickly braced herself for the second ear. She winced again, but quickly asked for the "cold" so it could help her pain. Josh immediately came in and congratulated her on her bravery and snapped a quick picture. I was thrilled to get her out of that chair, and out of sight from the curious crowd, and she and I walked through the store to pick out another pair of earrings.

She finally decided (you know how long it takes the Caruana's to make a decision) on pink music notes, slightly random to me, but she explained that she wanted to show them to her music teacher at school. We made our purchases and then made a stop at an ice cream parlor to celebrate her beautiful ears.

My favorite part of the day was when we got home and she ran into the bathroom to catch another glimpse of herself. She reminded me of a newly-engaged bride who regularly stops to admire her sparkling hand--and in Hannah's case, ears. Jonny went with her into the bathroom, and the conversation that followed was so characteristically Jonny, and precious, that I whipped out my camera to catch some of it. Unfortunately, I couldn't capture it on the video, but I don't think I'll quickly forget the sweetness.

"Hannah, I just love your earrings," Jonny sighed. "You look so beautiful."

"Thank you," Hannah replied, "they're so sparkly."

"Yeah," said Jonny, "I just love your sparkles. "

It sure is nice to have an adoring brother.

And, beautiful, sparkly, earrings.

This is a little video of the kids playing. Hannah and Caleb were so cute together, so I got out the camera, but it soon turned into Caruanas Gone Wild. If you can hear Caleb's laugh over the others' screams, you'll see why we love the just-before-bed giggle-fests. Enjoy!

Here's the iphone picture (finally!) of Hannah RIGHT after she'd gotten her ears pierced--for the keen observer, you'll notice her eyes are a bit misty. This was so soon after, that she hadn't even seen herself in the mirror. What a tough cookie she was! Josh told her it was okay if she wanted to cry and she said that she didn't like to. He assured her that it was completely acceptable to cry after getting one's ears pierced, but she persisted, "I don't like to cry because it makes my throat and chest hurt." I completely agree, Hannah! :)