You know what? It's that the earrings are really just a symbol. IMHO.

I think I'd probably have a similar sense, but my trouble (?) is that I'd feel like I *had* to like her and *had* to make nice.

I hope you and Frances are better soon.

Julie
Using My Words

When Aaron was small and had to be pinned down for certain things I didn't cry with him I'd sometimes giggle. I"m weird in the way that I laugh when something bad is happening. It was mostly nerves at the time. Also it was a side I hardly ever seen, he was always docile and gentle and to see that it took me and 2 or 3 other adults to hold him down, a tiny tot of 2! Anyway....I probably wouldn't be her friend either! Hope you are both feeling better really soon to enjoy the lovely season!

Any time my kids have had to have shots, I've cried. When O was diagnosed with diabetes and getting IVs and poked and prodded all the time, I cried constantly.

I can't even imagine holding my child down for ear piercing. I think I would feel like a monster.

I know that in some cultures, pierced ears on little girl babies are just the norm, but I personally think it's gross, and that many people just do it because they are afraid that you'll think their girl is a boy. What a horror that would be.

Hope the cold soon abates.

I'm throwing up over that woman.

i think i met that woman myself, last week. she went on and on to the mother next to me about how cute little princess-y things are and how happy she was she didn't "get stuck with a boy"...all in front of my boy, who was sweetly trying to point out all the birds in the photo on the wall to me.

i have always longed for a girl, though not for her reasons. i was blinking back the most furious tears staring at her in that waiting room, wondering why it is that some of the most asinine people get everything their peabrains want.

Oh my goodness. I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit just now. Her poor kid!
I'm the same r/e colours and such - we're using mostly cloth diapers for our little boy, and some of them are pink. My mother-in-law was over one day and giggled at them, and then said "Ooooh, is that bad that I'm giggling at the pink diapers?" knowing full well what my position is on assigning colours based on gender. I smiled not-so-sweetly and didn't say much - there's not much point, sometimes. Wonder what she'll say when she sees her grandson in his pink polo shirt. Heh.

Yuck. That sh*t drives me nuts.

My three-year-old daughter has lovely blonde curls. People comment on them all the time. I can understand why --- they're pretty striking. I get a little squicky when people (especially certain extended relatives) go on and on about "aren't you pretty!" to the exclusion of things that actually, um, matter, but mostly I grit my teeth and make sure to emphasize anything but looks to Nora when I comment to her.

But the comments that leave me speechless are 1.) "Do you perm her hair?"/"Are those curls natural?!" (which I get at least once a week) and 2.) "Is she a natural blonde?" (which I got for the first time yesterday). The fact that so many people actually ask these questions makes me wonder if there aren't a fairly sizable number of people who actually put chemicals in preschoolers' hair. Holy crap. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than holding a kid down to get their ears pierced.

On a related note, have you read Packaging Girlhood, by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown?

No, I haven't; but I'll have to.

And egads, I can't imagine bleaching and perming a little girl's hair.