BYE- BYE Binky!!

Last Friday was a big milestone in the Christensen family. Our sweet almost 3 year old has had the hardest time giving up her binky or as her dad and I like to call it "her friend." We called it that when we didn't want her to know what we were talking about. I realize she was too old to still have this "friend" of hers but when we moved to Florida and there was a new baby brother in the picture we weren't ready to rip it from her just yet and that could be part of the reason it was hard getting rid of it. I realize that most kids have their security to help them sleep at night and she just needed her binky and her green blanket. We tired convincing her that at Christmas Santa Claus was going to come and take binky away on Christmas eve and then we would be done with it. She talked about it and understood what we were saying and then when Christmas eve came she was NOT ready to give it up. So we carried on our way letting her have her binky. We have only let her have it for nap times and bed times for the past year but we just needed to get rid of it cold turkey. I was willing so many times to just throw it away and deal with a few rough nights and naps but her daddy thought otherwise.

So the last few weeks I have been telling Tatum that she is too big for a binky and that if we don't get rid of it the binky is going to make her teeth all funny looking and the dentist would want you to get rid of it. Then one morning she said " Mommy I need to throw my binky away so that my teeth won't grow in funny and the dentist would be sad." She then walked over to the trash can and threw it away. I was shocked and just went along with it and said," I am so proud of you Tatum, you are such a big girl!" Then when she wasn't looking I went and took it out of the trash and kept it well hidden from her just in case. But I had NO intentions of giving it back. I kept telling Todd he had to be on the same page with us so that we could pass this big change in her life. I knew that it would be a hard few days but we got through it. I would just lay by her to help her fall asleep and some nights she stayed up until 11 cause she had a hard time falling asleep on her own and would eventually just passed out of just complete exhaustion.

I am very proud of her and for her deciding she was ready for it. There are hard days still but I just have to be extra patient on those days and realize that she is making big adjustments in her life from being potty trained to becoming a big girl.

So BYE- BYE BINKY!!!