Where I’ve Been, Part 1

It has been a long time since I’ve had a moment to sit and type, to get my thoughts out of my head and share them. Having triplets deep in the threes will do that. The boys are back in school, the holidays are over (they’re still taking over the house, but the pressure of making them happen has lifted). The laundry has become its own entity and I battle daily with little sign of results.

. . .

Strong, out of season winds blew down a large section of the fence separating our back yard from our reclusive neighbor’s. When it happened we could have fixed it, but due to said neighbor’s reluctance, it will have to wait until after taxes. 

. . .

The triplets’ adventures have become both more amusing, and more harrowing. They are rapidly approaching their 4^th birthday (and I hope an end to the terrible threes).  Strawberry and Peach look less alike due to Strawberry’s adventures in hair styling. The first incident left Peach with a cute chin length bob (Strawberry has very steady scissors for being three) and Strawberry with a short asymmetrical cut (like Kate Gosling had). Raspberry was able to get away without her sisters giving her more than some layers and trimming her bangs (to her scalp on one side). The second incident was only about a month later and left Strawberry with a very short pixie cut. I was finally able to convince Hunny to get Raspberry’s hair cut after Strawberry tried to give her layers yet again and Raspberry told Hunny that she wanted shorter hair; she had been telling me since the first incident.

. . .

Raspberry got her ears pierced. Although I was hesitant, and still am honestly, (here’s why ) it was Raspberry herself who convinced me. The girls rediscovered the clip on earrings I had made them for their pirate costumes for Halloween of 2011 and their third birthday pictures. For those who haven’t had the experience (or don’t remember), clip on earrings are painful to wear. They are torturous after even a few minutes, and these were the larger flat clips, not the screw down, point of fire implements of torture that were popular a few decades ago. Raspberry wore those pirate hoops for 3 days. As in, asked me to put them on and wore them for 4 to 6 hours at a time. For comparison, Strawberry would wear them for only 10 to 15 minutes and stopped asking to wear them after a couple of times, Peach wore them for less than 5 minutes and refused to try them again after the first time.

On the third day, I told Hunny that it looked like Raspberry wanted earrings. She jumped on my moment of weakness, and that evening Raspberry had cute butterfly studs for us to take care of. Unfortunately, the backs didn’t hold like they needed to, and within the first week Hunny and I ended up reinserting her earrings at least 3 times (not easy when the holes are still that new and not at all healed). So far she hasn’t shown any sign of my metal allergy but we did switch her to sterling studs after she told me her earrings felt ‘pinchy’. Neither of her sisters seem interested in getting their own earrings, although Bam-Bam has shown an interest (if he’s still interested by his 7^th birthday we’ll get his done, he tends to go through fads and we want to make sure he really wants them).

To be continued . . . .

Arguing with Myself: An Ode to Pierced Ears

Or why informed consent is important when dealing with hereditary allergies

When I was in Junior High I begged and pleaded to get my ears pierced. My sister and
I had tons of old clip and screw on earrings, but they were so painful to wear.
I eventually prevailed and got my much desired pierced ears. After six months I
noticed a problem. My ears were getting infected even though the holes had been
healed for months.

So I tried different earrings. Eventually I determined that
I could only wear sterling silver or pewter, not just in my ears, but now
anywhere on my body. My neck would break out in tiny sandpaper bumps, and if I
wore a watch without covering the back it would eventually irritate the skin so
much it would lift right off leaving a raw red area.

Over time I learned to deal with my allergy. Every few years I develop a fun new
facet (because staying the same would be boring).
In High School I wore a costume necklace for a choir performance. After less than an hour I had broken out so badly that I still have a scar in my cleavage from the center drop.
In college I found out that the rivets in my jeans were a problem, so I cover every rivet in every pair with mole skin.
My husband and I had to drive almost 60 miles to find a jeweler who would cast our wedding rings in sterling.
When Elroy was born my best friend made me a sling with special plastic rings so that I wouldn’t have to worry about having a reaction.
If I hold straight pins in my mouth, even for the time it takes to stitch a seam, my lips blister and swell.

I have adapted. My inability to find or afford jewelry I can wear is part of why
I design my own. About 2 years ago I found out that my allergy is hereditary. My maternal great grandmother had the same allergy, as does my cousin. Up until then I thought it was just because my body didn’t like me.

Now that my girls are two, Hubby has been pushing to get their ears pierced. He does not have any allergies in his family, and his nieces both had their ears pierced as toddlers with no ill
effects. I understand that piercing infant and toddler’s ears is a normal and perfectly socially acceptable occurrence in many cultures. I feel that it is every parent’s right to make that decision
themselves. I’m not trying to advocate one way or another.

Hubby argues that so far the kids don’t seem to have picked up the other issues (low-grade febrile seizures) that run in my family, and so should not have picked this one up either. He may be right. My sister-in-law often references a study she read somewhere stating how allergies only get passed on the dad’s side. Her girls ears were pierced early (her husband is of Latin descent) and
she has ‘theories’ about allergies. This is not true. I know for a fact that I have family allergies from both parents and those have been passed on regardless of the parent’s gender.

I’m not against them getting their ears (or other places as they get older) pierced; I just want to wait until they’re old enough to understand the possible consequences and give informed consent. I can’t take the thought of dooming them to my allergy because earrings are pretty on
little girls. And I can’t imagine having an allergy like this and finding out that I could have avoided it if not for someone else’s vanity. Had I known how bad it could get, I might have gotten mine done with more caution.

Happily, I have come up with a way to check for the warning signs without getting their ears
done. I have always had issues with watch backs. I used to cover mine with nail polish or later moleskin long before my allergy reared its ugly head. As watches might be wasted on toddlers, I found a company on-line that sells stainless steel jewelry for reasonable prices (I couldn’t find surgical steel for cheap enough to buy three just as a test). So, just after Christmas each girl got a steel I.D. style bracelet with her initial engraved on it. I plan to have them wear the bracelets for at least the next year or until they show signs of sensitivity. Peach is already starting to show what could be early symptoms . . .