Gone forever

We finally threw the binki away. At 22 months, you'd think I was talking about Maison's binki, but we're not that ahead of the game. Madeline, at over 3 1/2 years old finally threw her nasty, broken, loved to the very very very end, binki away. It was a sad night.

It was time and I am sad about it. Sadder than I got when we moved her to her big girl bed. I was completely set against MAKING her give her binki up because it was her lovey, and if it was a teddy bear or something wouldn't it be cruel to just up and throw it away? It just sucked that it was affecting her teeth. I was hoping she'd just forget about it one day. 3 years old was my absolute limit. So at least we made it by 4.

Since about 18 months she's only had it in bed. Before she was 3 we started talking about how it wasn't forever and that it was for babies and la-dee-da. Then we got her some books about it and read them too her. Then I tried bribing her with toys from Target. Finally Thor took over and cut a tiny hole in it and we told her it was broken, and I started taking it out of her mouth at nights when she fell asleep. Then, not too long ago he cut a bigger hole in it.

Finally, the other night, he cut a giant chunk out of it. And when Madeline showed it to me, I thought it had come apart when she slept and it freaked me out. I thought she swallowed it. So I told her that we had to throw it away the next day, which she was fine about (she's thrown it away before, but then gotten it out before bedtime). The next afternoon I reminded her and she tossed it. This time I didn't let her get it back out.

At bedtime, she started panicking and freaking out. I gave myself an hour. If she didn't start to calm down by an hour I'd let her get it (I know, I'm a lost cause). At about an hour, we ate a pumpkin muffin and she calmed down. I let her stay up until 10 to get really tired and then I stayed with her in her bed until she fell asleep.

She woke up once that night (last night) and cried because "her breath felt funny" without her binki. So I layed with her until she fell asleep again. She woke up this morning and was happy to see that her new barking puppy toy that she had picked out long ago was waiting for her on the counter for being such a big girl. And tonight Thor put her to bed without a hitch.

Now, every bit of baby is gone from my little girl. Except for the snuggling, she still loves to snuggle.