I'm quite sure by now I have established that both of my children are quite quirky.  They take after their mother in that respect.  They have each demonstrated stubborn streaks that are not even bound by the limits of their own comfort or well-being.  As a toddler, my older daughter didn't like to have anything put in her hair.  Whether it be a bow, a clip or a rubber band-- out it came.  The problem was a fistful of hair would join it.  It didn't take me long to learn to just let her hair hang in her face.  I can't imagine how many times my poor mother must have had her hands on her scissors just itching to cut that poor kid some bangs!  (Thanks for toughing it out with me, Mom.  At least now she'll tuck it behind her ears!)
    My "baby" (who no longer is one) takes issue with her earrings.  I have tried everything from studs to hoops to safety backs.  The studs and hoops both got yanked out.  The safety backs stayed in, but she messed with them so much that she would actually tighten them down-- which looked like it hurt.  So I mostly gave up.  I would periodically put them in (just to save her the trouble of having to repierce them when she's older) and see how long she would leave them in.  Some times it was four minutes, sometimes it was four days.  I figured whatever I could get was good enough.  
    Today, however, has cured me of that tightrope walk.  Sooner or later something bad was going to happen.  I got a quick lesson in that when I put her earrings in this afternoon.  She was highly cooperative (shocker!) so it took me no time to be done and let her go on her way.  But not a minute later I was apparently three steps too far behind her.  I came around the corner  to see her trying to put the earring that had just been in her ear on her teddy bear's ear.  The funny thing was that when she saw me she immediately tried to put her earring back in her ear.  The horrifying thing was that she put it in her ear-- as in not in the piercing hole, but the hearing hole.  I grabbed it right away before she shoved it too far in; no damage was done.  Except I think I peed a little.  I mean, we just had the peanut incident.  Enough with kids putting things where they don't belong, already!
    So, I think I will still try to keep the holes open for her.  After all, we've made it this far.  But the earrings will be coming straight back out after I make sure they will go in until she is old enough to ask to wear earrings.  Now, I know there are a lot of people who think I have no business piercing my kids' ears without them requesting it.  To each his/her own.  Here is my reasoning for doing it at 2 months of age:  most American girls eventually want their ears pierced.  This allowed me to get it done for them without anxiety for them prior to the event.  Also, at that age they can't control their hands enough to mess with the freshly broken skin.  That allowed the ears to heal without the bouts of infection that are so common when girls are old enough to touch their ears or resist proper care and cleaning.  And it worked perfectly with my older daughter.  She absolutely loves her earrings.  So I made an assumption that what worked for one would work for the other.  It did in the beginning.  I'm not perfect.  Sorry.  
    Man, I apparently have some repressed guilt about this ear piercing thing!  I think she will probably be okay, though.  What really gets me now that I'm writing about it is that she showed me that she's hit a developmental milestone:  she realized that what she had done was not what she was supposed to do AND she quickly tried to cover up that action!  She has learned guilt and deceit!  She's a human!  Hooray!  I'm really in for it now...

CL