When did she grow up?

Yesterday afternoon, Kate looked at me with a very serious expression and said.
"I think we need to go to the mall and get my ears pierced."

Um, what? She had mentioned piercing her ears a few times, here and there, but she had always said that "when she was 7" or "when she was 6" it would be a good time to have it done. She watched her cousin Kylie get hers done at the Grapevine Mills Mall a while back, and since then it had been on her radar but not something that she brought up often. So when she sounded so sure of herself yesterday, I was a bit surprised.

We were headed to Walmart to get a few trip items anyway, so I told her that I thought Walmart did ear piercing and I would let her get it done if she still wanted to by then.

She selected a pair of earrings from the case, and after several questions from me about if she was really ready for this, she bravely climbed up in the chair and waited for the lady to prepare her ears. My biggest fear was that she was going to get one ear done, freak out, and then it would take an act of Congress to get her to agree to do the other side. I imagined a one-earringed little girl who was perfectly content with her one sparkly ear.

She didn't make a peep. Not a single sound when the earring was forced through her earlobe. No tears, no wincing. She didn't even squeeze my hand all that tight. I was starting to wonder if I was more scared than she was.

She barely even reacted at all! Who is this kid??

To celebrate, I got her a Whataburger. My girl is growing up!