Peanut got his ears pierced, Peanut got his ears pierced!

Okay, I may have bribed him a little, but we've been talking about it for months and the only thing stopping him was that it might hurt a bit.

Less than 5 minutes after it was done, he was hopping around the mall yelling, "It doesn't hurt anymore!" Then we went to the play area in the middle of the mall where he jumped, rushed and tossed himself into things and other kids. He went to bed without any problems and I've already cleaned them twice with no fuss from him.

So I think his precious ears are gonna be fine.

On the other hand, his dad called earlier, around noon. Peanut didn't want to talk to him at first, then added at the last minute that he had gotten his ears pierced. All I heard was (R.'s side of the conversation is pure speculation),

Peanut: Dad, guess what?
Dad: What?
Peanut: Yesterday night I got my ears pierced.
Dad: What?
Peanut: Yesterday night I got my ears pierced.
Dad: Both or one?
Peanut: Both.
Dad: Lemme talk to your mom.
Peanut: (handing me the phone) Mom, my dad wants to talk to you.

Yeah, I was expecting it because R. thinks that boys either shouldn't have their ear(s) pierced at all or they should only have the one - all this so people won't think you're gay or worse, a girl.

I get on the phone,

Me: Hello?
R.: (keep in mind he's pissed at this point so he's not just asking, but almost yelling) Why'd you get both his ears pierced?
Me: Because he wanted them both done and I saw no reason to say no.
R: Because it's wrong....
Me: The only thing wrong with it is your own issues with homophobia....
R.: I can't believe you! This time you've gone too far....
Me: I'm not going to talk to you about this right now - then I hung up.

He likes to pick fights with me a lot over petty shit and honestly, I think this is one of them. Having Peanut's ears pierced is just so minor compared to the other shit R. lets him do, like play T and M rated video games, watch PG-13 cartoons that have lines such as "Beer, it's the nectar for the gods" in it, etc.

We had a not so nice battle over the summer about whether or not I could tell Peanut 3 puppies had died from Parvo, all the while R. telling me Peanut wasn't old enough to understand, but damnit, why wouldn't I let Peanut play Halo or watch Jurassic Park. After all, those are things Peanut likes to do so why deny him those guilty pleasures? /sarcasm

Who knows what kind of discussion we're going to have about the earrings at some other point, but I seriously doubt it will be a nice one. R. tends to speak mainly from reaction instead of stopping to think, breathe, then answer, only to actually think about it later and most of the time he has to retract his earlier arguments. That and he doesn't listen to me at all so we end up talking around or over each other, which is why I'll flat out tell him that if he doesn't shut up and listen to me, I'm going to hang up. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Other times I hang up on him 3 or 4 times before he gets the hint (the only reason why I keep answering is if my dad is in the house).

Oh yeah, you see that shitty haircut in the pictures? That was R.'s doing. I had taken Peanut to get a haircut 2 weekends ago, the lady did a horrible job, so I took him to the lady who usually does my hair. When I asked R. why he had gotten Peanut's haircut again, he said, "Because I didn't like it." Okay, fair enough, but what bothered me was the fact he had gone and changed it after I paid for not 1, but 2 haircuts to try and correct the problem to begin with.

(Ftr, I didn't ask him about getting Peanut's ears pierced because I knew he'd say no and his reasons for saying no are stereotypical homophobia and based in falsehood. But he won't understand that.)

The best part? When I hung up the phone, Peanut looked at me and said, "My daddy just doesn't believe girls and boys can do the same things and that's not right, is it mom? Because boys and girls can have their ears pierced."