Bye Bye Binkie!

For 745 days, give or take a few, Camryn slept with at least one binkie. Some nights she had as many as three in her bed!

Taking away the binkie was something that I have been dreading forever. I figured, why mess up a good thing? For the past several months, we had restricted her binkie time to only when she was in her bed (same for school - she only had it at naptime). And since she loved her binkie so, she was absolutely the best about going to sleep - would run to the stairs for 'binkie and lovey time'. But, Kevin had been concerned about her needing a crutch to fall asleep. And, he was right - it was time. We had heard that you either get rid of the binkie by the time they are 6 months old or wait until after they are 2, when they can comprehend why. So, we had to come up with the 'why'.

Before Cody was born, we started to have conversations about how binkies are for babies and since she was about to be a big sister, she was no longer a baby. She said that she would give all of her binkies to her baby brother when he was born. And she almost did - she kept a pink one and would not part with it.

So, we told her that binkies break when big girls use them. It just happens. On November 30, her binkie broke.

We were upstairs for bedtime like usual, she had just finished her bath and brushed her teeth, and it was 'binkie and lovey time' - YIPPEE! Without saying anything to her, Kevin gave her the binkie and lovey and sat down to read. She popped it in her mouth and immediately took it out. She brought it close to her face and studied it. Broke. Her face was so sad that I honestly had to hold tears back (I'm a wuss, by the way). She brought it to me and said, 'broke.' I told her that she was a big girl and that happens. She then took it to Kevin and said, 'broke.' And then she did something that she's never done before - she handed her binkie to Kevin - she didn't want it!

When we were tucking her in that night, she asked for the binkie and she just held it - didn't put it in her mouth. Very sad, like she was mourning the loss of a good companion.

We went downstairs where I cried a little (wuss!) and it took her a long time to fall asleep. But, she did it without tears! It was amazing. When we went upstairs to get her in the morning, the first thing she told us was the binkie was broken. Poor thing was probably thinking about it all night.

The second night did not go as smoothly (there were tears that night) but, after that slight bump in the road it has been ok! No more binkies! (Oh wait, Cody sort of likes his now too... sigh...)

[Kevin 'broke' the binkie by cutting the tip of it off, preventing a suction. We had planned to cut a little more each night if she ended up still sucking on it, but since she did not, we didn't have to do that. That same week he also cut the one at school and told them our plan. I think she had a little harder time there - since they only have 2 hours for nap, she had shorter naps for the first week or so because it took her longer to fall asleep. She told us that the binkies were garbage now, so she threw them away. I'm such a sap that I promptly removed them from the garbage, ran them through the sanitizer three times, and they are now in my hope chest. Not sure why, just felt like I needed them!]