What's Different?

Amelia loves to read Highlights Magazine, which she has had a subscription to for about a year now. I am sure you remember Highlights from when you were a kid, the fun magazine geared towards children that is filled with puzzles, games, and short stories. When the magazine comes in the mail each month Amelia shouts with excitement. I love this!

One of Amelia's favorite puzzles from the magazine is called "What's different". In this game, the kids view two drawings on the same page, with the goal of identifying the differences between the two picures. Typically the kids are asked to circle XX number of things that are different between the two pictures.

So in honor of Amelia's love of this game, let's play hidden pictures. The first photo below was taken last week during Vacation Bible School at our church. The second photo was taken on Saturday afternoon. See if you can spot what is different between the two photos.

So besides the difference in clothing and environment between the two pictures, "What's different?" I'll give you a hint...look to the ear lobes...

That's it! Amelia got her ears pierced on Saturday afternoon! Doesn't she look lovely with the white gold studs in her ears in the second photo? This was an early birthday present for my dear girl who is turning 9 in a few weeks! Amelia wanted to have her ears pierced for her birthday so we decided to have them done before we went on our summer vacation (starting next week). We made the appointment this past week and Amelia was well aware of the event we had planned later that day.

Amelia got her ears pierced at a local studio that was recommended by friends of ours. The studio does not use the more traditional piercing guns that places like "Claire's" (in the mall) use, but instead the studio uses a numbing spray on the lobe and then a needle to make the hole for the earring. Apparently this is supposed to be a less painful procedure as compared to the more traditional gun.

Amelia was awesome going into this appointment. You could tell that she was dedicated about having her ears pierced but that she was a bit nervous about the needle part. However, Amelia made it through like a champion. The woman who performed the piercing was very sweet and gentle with her. After the first lobe was finished and the woman told Amelia that the first was completed, Amelia said"Really?!?! The first is over?", and she was so excited that she hadn't really felt anything. The second ear went more smoothly than the first and I was glad that the experience after both ears was easy and pleasant.

So imagine my surprise when we ran into a bit of trouble a few minutes after she was finished. Amelia suddenly felt faint. The woman who did the piercings was talking with me about how to clean the ears and what types of earrings are most healthy to wear, and all of a sudden Amelia had major issues with listening to this talk. Amelia interrupted us buy declaring that her "brain and eyes were fuzzy" and then her upper body went noticably limp. I was holding onto Amelia's shoulders and all of a sudden they were not quite there. Amelia started blurring her words, and right then the people in charge figured out what was happening and immediately rushed to put Amelia in a safe room on a cot to lie down. The manager elevated Amelia's legs above her head, we gave her some water, and within two minutes Amelia was feeling closer to normal. Ten minutes later we all walked out of there, feeling happy and proud that the ear piercing experience was behind us.

The point of this dramatic story is that on this afternoon I realized how much my daughter is just like me. I have a weak stomach and I fainted as a child too (one instance I can remember was fainting after a dentist appointment that I was very nervous about). But while I know this to be true about me, this was the first time that I saw that Amelia could be just like me in this capacity. It was so strange to be watching and caring for Amelia during this experience, while at the same time completely recoginizing that while her experience was sub-optimal, understanding that there was very little that I could to to stop it from playing out exactly the way things ended. My girl handled the day quite well, though I wish I hadn't passed down through genetic lines the sensitivity to uncomfortable body-experiences such as this.

But after the fact Amelia is proud as can be of her new earrings, and honestly I think she barely remembers her experience leading up to regaining normalcy on the resting table.

Yea, Amelia! You look gorgeous with your new earrings! I am so proud of you, my sweet girl.