Pierce de Resistance

After the extensive lobbying campaign for a Nintendo DS (a wish granted by Santa) Steffi has evidently turned her focus on her New Year's resolution - getting her ears pierced.

I say evidently because I haven't heard this from her directly. She has talked to my wife, who passed along the request to me. She was told to gather my response, which in turn would be relayed back to Steffi. It's like a familial peace, I mean pierce, process.

There are mixed feelings about this request in my household, and by that I mean everyone is for it except me. My first reaction when my wife brought it up was, "Ears pierced? She's just a kid!" When she reminded me that Steffi would be 9 this year and is currently in the third grade, I came up with what I thought was a thoughtful response. I pretended my cell phone was vibrating and it was probably someone from the office calling.

You know the feeling when you put on a little weight? At first you don't really notice. So a few weeks go by, you know you're not eating right or exercising, but your mind is telling you that things are in control. Then one day you wake up, you can't button your pants, and you look in the mirror in amazement and say, "Wow I'm fat."

That feeling is sort of like what happens with kids. One day you're trying to swaddle them to get them to sleep, but before you even realize it they're asking for pierced ears, cell phones and iPods. It really makes you start to think.

Hold on, I think my cell phone is ringing...