Big Deal

It's hard to blog after a vacation. I want to organize my thoughts and write about the great time we had, how visiting family feels so good, about how crazy we are to drive STRAIGHT from Wisconsin to NJ for 15 hours and then BACK from NY to WI a week later-- straight through, no breaks. Visiting friends is great for us and great for Talia too. I can't believe how grown up the kids all are. But I'll never get time to really organize my thoughts and write them down so I think pictures will have to do. It's much easier to write about the little things in life than the big ones. And, of course, I have to get the photo CD from my sis but a few pictures will suffice for now.

One major thing we did on vacation was get Talia's ears pierced. We had talked about it for a while and I told her when she was ready we would get it done. While looking at some earrings in a mall in NJ, I asked her if she was interested. She was. I mean, where else would the daughter of a Jersey girl get her ears pierced but at a mall in NJ? We went to Claire's and got the process rolling. Talia picked out cute little pink and white jeweled flowers (same as her friend Maya, of course and BTW, what happened to suffering for two months with the boring little gold ball earrings? How easy our kids have it!). She was given a lollipop. She held my hand but didn't even squeeze it. I would say she was brave but she didn't even really consider this a situation where she needed to be brave. We had role-played getting her earrings done many times-- like you might role play getting a shot at the doctor, complete with strong pinches to indicate how much it might hurt-- but she really wasn't stressed at all. it was very simple and she was a really big girl. She also lets me clean them and turn them without a fuss. No big deal. I was four when I got my ears pierced (in a mall in NJ) and now she has too!