Bink free since March 23

Thank you to all of you who offered advice on the binky removal. It is done. All of your thoughts and encouragement really helped Husband see that now is the time, and it is a necessary next step. I think the thing that propelled me most of all in making the decision was knowing that he was ready. We had weaned him down to binks at only certain times (at night and naptime in the house), and he wakes up every morning with all the binks on the floor anyways. I think it helped us to wean, and wait until we knew he was ready. And we were ready too. Kid #2 definitely also propelled this, if Deuce was not on his way I wonder if we would have kept the bink for a while – it’s not like they take them to college, right? But I am worried that once Joel Andrew sees Deuce with one he will want his all the time. So, better to cut the cord now…

So, the final nail in the coffin for the binks – Joel Andrew made the decision himself! I kid you not, this is probably the funniest, followed by the saddest thing ever. Husband and I were chatting last night in Joel Andrew’s room about how we needed to do this, and we were just going to do it. We were deciding d-day when Joel Andrew, probably upon hearing us say the word Bink so many times in a row, walked over to his crib and grabbed a bink. We told him big boys do not have binks, and my husband said: “don’t you think it is time to throw the bink away?” - So, Joel Andrew walked over to the trash can, opened it, and threw the bink away. We erupted into cheers and screamed “Big Boy!”

He then proceeded to go to his crib to get his next bink, and his next. He threw them all away one by one (he had a lot stashed in his crib). He threw away the last bink and we were so proud. This is the part when all of your suggestions about having a present, something to really solidify the big boy status/distract him from what he just did would have been optimal. But because we were just rolling with it, we had no such present prepared. We all looked at each other in shock. Here we were debating over when to drop this big bomb, researching, asking for advice all week and the kid just tosses them away. Could it really be this easy?

No… Joel Andrew caught this look on my face and immediately it struck him as well, the magnitude of what he just did. He began to run back to the trash bin and started screaming. He wants the binks back, now. At this point husband is laughing and I am about to cry. On the one hand a big boy, but now he is being tortured. So, husband did the next very right thing and took Joel Andrew to take the trash out, show him that they are really gone. Which was good for me too because I was about to go in the trash and fish one out between the dirty diapers and give it to him right then and there. Weak.

By the time the trash was in the garage, the kiddo was calm. We found some Sebago Lake toys in the basement (saving them for this summer) and that served the gift purpose of distracting him. He was a big boy now, and for the rest of the evening he was back to himself, a crazy delightful adorable little man.

Time to go to bed, and Mom was worried, so she stayed away. Dad did a great job of following all the normal routines and allowed him another stuffed animal to cuddle with (we are now up to 4 in the crib). No problem. As usual, he chatted himself to bed, spent a good 20 minutes rearranging his stuffed animals and pillow to the perfect orientation (the video monitor is sometimes a big hoot), and then he fell asleep. I wanted to blog right then and there, but I knew it was only the beginning.

In the middle of the night he woke up once. I was terrified. Now what do we do? I watched on the monitor. He stood up, looked for a bink, let out two cries, then immediately plopped down on his stomach and went back to bed. I was amazed. He woke up this morning normal time, and did not even look for binks on the floor. A mere memory.

I realize this was only night #1. Hopefully night #2 will be just as good, if not better. The big worry – nap time. His first binkless nap will be tomorrow. (he has binkless naps at school, but I was a sucker and would give them to him at home). So, we will see how that goes…