It Is Done

You'll remember last month when we attempted to be done with Emily's binky habit and I completely lost it and was unable to follow through.  Turns out I was being overrun with hormones that day which rendered me completely incapable of executing the necessary tough love.

Well, that was weeks ago and my hormones are back in balance and I am capable of not breaking down at the mere thought of losing the binkies.  Monday we snipped the binkies (no elaborate party this time) and Emily has been without them since after one unsuccessful suck then ended in a binky on the floor.  Now, before I tell you how we are all doing now that the beloveds are gone, I'd like to take a minute and pay respect to The Deetee.

You'll notice she wasn't born with one in her mouth. And in fact she didn't have one until we came home from the hospital because I had forgotten to bring them and they didn't give us one at the hospital.

She wasn't long without once we got home, though.  I love how huge they look in a newbie's mouth.

But from that moment on she was rarely without one.

Her constant companion and a sanity saver for me with a needy two year old and wanting a good night's sleep.

We've gone through many, many, many of them.

After awhile, we got smart and restricted her binky use to just bedtime.  And that was the sticking point, why it took me so long to gather the courage to take them away.  Bedtime was usually so easy.  Give the girl a binky and she would go right to sleep most of the time.  I didn't want to go through the crying for an hour we went through with Aidan when we got rid of his.  

Just look at that.  Pure contentment.  Why mess that up?

But, it was time.  So we did it.  The first night was no good.  Lots of crying.  Lots of "Mommy!  Go to Warmart and get me new binkies!"  We didn't sleep much.  She refused to nap the next day, but, blessed miracle, she went to bed just fine and only woke up once during the night.

It is done.  However, there is one casualty, it appears.  Nap time.  She refuses to nap.  I'm doing my best to accept it, but ay yi yi.  I see a long summer ahead of us.