Bye Bye Binkie!

Oh, my baby girl is growing up :( I have been thinking for a while that it was getting to be time to pull the plug (ha ha) on the binkie. I'm convinced its the reason Miss Thang didn't talk for the first year and a half of her life and she still liked it a little more than she probably should at this age. I refuse to have one of those preschoolers who is carrying on full conversations around a mouthful of paci. BUT, I was going out of town, she was sick, then I was sick.... on and on. You get the idea. I had more excuses for not weaning her off of it than I had desire to do so.
Until.... she stated biting through the tips of them. Miss Heather, the wonder sitter, brought it to my attention and said no more at her house..... she was worried she would get a hunk off and choke! My mom had weaned my brother and I off of them by cutting the tip off, so I sensed an opportunity. I brought home one of the bitten binkies and that evening offered it to her a couple of times. She would take a couple of pulls and cry.... and throw it down! Pretty soon she wouldn't even take it.
But, what about bedtime? Was I ready for an all night throw down? I mean, she has NEVER gone to sleep without one in her precious little life! We did our usual.... bath, book, binkie, bed..... except we skipped right over the binkie part. And then it happened...... I kissed her goodnight, gave her a baby and.......she went RIGHT to sleep!

I can't lie and say there haven't been a few rough moments, but overall it was sooooo much easier than I'd expected. To celebrate on Saturday when we went to the store I let the kids each get a balloon with the idea that we would do a binkie send off into the sky. We tied a binkie on to the string (she didn't even reach for it when she saw it), I explained that the balloon was going to take it away, she waved "Buh bye" and blew it kisses and we launched the balloons toward their heavenly destination. At least that's how it went in my head.... in reality, the binkie was too heavy for the balloon, so I had to yank it off real quick and stuff it into my pocket, before she could see. Either way, NO MORE BINKIE at the Little House!!! YAY....... I think.
Its unbelievably bittersweet. The last Little Baby is not much of a baby anymore. Its not fair, how fast they grow! She gets more and more fun with each passing day, but its a slow agonizing pain for a Mama to see them leave that "baby-ness" behind. And now that there is not a plug in her mouth, she is free to be just as sassy as she wants to be!