Bye, Bye Binky!!!

March 15, 2010 - I can't believe that I haven't blogged about this sooner! This day was HUGE at our house!!! Our sweet Rylee has LOVED her binky as long as I can remember... This is her first binky picture that I could find, back in June 07 when Rylee was about 3 months old. Whenever I go through older pictures, I always wish that she wouldn't have that silly binky in so that I could actually see her face, but it seemed to be attached most of the time.Here she is on our Disney vacation in May of 2008, when she was about 13 months old.
And, in most of our Disneyworld photos, Ry has her binky, too! This trip was in July 2008, when Rylee was about 16 months old. I guess part of the problem in Disneyworld was we were up so early and gone so late, Ry was always tired and wanted her binky, but I hated seeing it in every picture!
Rylee would frequently even carry more than one binky so she could switch them, (do they have different flavors???) or even stuff her mouth with 2 at a time. (October 2008) We also started calling it the "B-I-N-K" and spelling it out so she wouldn't hear us say the name, because once we did, she would have to have it. The funny thing is, Logan would start spelling it out, too. She even tried to use some substitutes like these outlet plug covers a few times. (November 2008) She was addicted! Recently, Darren and I noticed a funny way she would twist her binky. It was kind of an endearing habit - She would take it out a little, but not all the way, twist it from top to bottom and then pop it back in, especially first thing in the morning or if she had something to say. She did look sweet with her binky in. Especially when she was cuddled up and ready for bed. Ever since she was about 1, Rylee would need her blankie, her baby doll or "Ore" (her soft Eeyore), a sippy cup tucked under her arm and a binky and she was ready for bed and she went to sleep so great.
This is the latest photo of her with a binky in October 2009. For the last 6 months or so, she has been doing good to only have a binky when she was sleeping or sometimes in the car. I tried to get rid of her binkys a few times, but she always seemed to find them around the house. I think she kept a secret stash!!!

Since Rylee was such an addict, I have dreaded the day when we would have to get rid of the binky. I always said I would not be one of those moms who would let their child have a binky past the age of 2, but Rylee has proved me wrong, yet again. When Logan was about 18 months old, I hid all of his binkys and he never seemed to care. However, he just started sucking his thumb more and is STILL sucking his thumb and he is almost 5, so I guess it wasn't that good of a plan! When Rylee turned 2, I wanted to take away her binky, but we were in the middle of moving, and I was transitioning her into a big girl bed and I didn't think that would be a good time to take her special binky away. By the time we were settled, I was pretty close to having a baby and I didn't think it was a good idea to take away her binky when she would be displaced by a new sister, and the baby would probably have a binky around the house for her to steal anyway. It turns out Avery wants nothing to do with binkys, so hopefully we won't have to go through this process again! Yeah!!! I tried to bribe Rylee and talk her out of giving up her binky a few times. She would get excited about something and say that she would give up her binky for it, but when it came down to it, she would choose the binky over the bribe and tell me "My binky makes me happy". How do you take that away??? She was getting way too big to have it, but I still felt mean trying to get rid of the binky, her one earthly possession she cared about more than anything else in the world! I think it was for a few reasons. 1st - Logan LOVES his thumb, just like Rylee loves her binky and we can't really take that away from him, so it didn't seem fair to take away Rylee's binky, and I was afraid she would just start sucking her thumb if her binky was gone. (So far, so good on that one...) 2nd - I think I was a little lazy! It was just too easy to give her her binky when she was upset and not have her fits and 3rd (and probably most important!), I don't want my baby girl to grow up so fast!!!
However, giving up the binky was all Rylee's idea, which has saved me some Mom guilt for taking it away from her. That is how most things have to be with Rylee - on her own time table, and I have learned things go a lot better when it is that way. It started because Logan was having a rough time staying in his bed at night, so as an incentive, I told him if he slept in his bed for 7 nights in a row, he could pick a Star Wars figure. He finally accomplished his goal and was so excited to pick his Star Wars guy, and while we were shopping, Rylee said she wanted a Princess Leia toy. I told her if she gave up her binky, she could have one, and she was ready to do it and that very night, she gave up the binky!
Here she is, sleeping without a binky! This is somewhat of a miracle!!! She has relied on that to go to sleep for SO long! It wasn't exactly easy, though. Luckily, she went to bed pretty late that night, so she was tired and didn't fight it for too long, but she did call me and Darren over and over into her room. Her usual bedtime routine is that we read her a story, say prayers, sing her a song, then give her a binky and she pops it in and goes right to sleep. The whole time that we are singing and reading, Rylee chats to us, but when we give her her binky, it is kind of like a plug and she finally stops talking and goes right to sleep. We found out that when you take away the plug, it is hard for her to stop talking! She kept calling us back in over and over. She would make Darren come up and she would ask "How was work?" even though he had been home for hours. Then she would insist I come up and she would say "How was staying home with me?" and then she would want us both there to ask us both together. I guess she just wanted to chat! I was surprised though that in all of that, she never once asked for her binky or even really cried. After about an hour, she finally gave up and went to sleep. It really wasn't THAT bad! I was prepared for much worse.

Here she is the next morning. She was SO proud of herself for having no binky and had to remind us over and over again that she was a big girl and didn't have a binky anymore and she was SO excited for a Princess Leia toy!
Look at that cute, binky-free smile!
To celebrate her big accomplishment, I made her her favorite breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes and I let her have marshmallows, too!!! I was hoping if we made it a big enough deal there would be no going back!
We went to 5 different stores and found no Princess Leia toys! (Ok...I did find one, but she was dressed in that outfit when she was Jabba the Hut's prisoner....you know the one... and I wasn't buying that for her....) Anyway, we asked her if she wanted to pick something else and she was fine with it, which was so funny because I thought the whole reason for giving up the binky was just for Princess Leia. She is the funniest little shopper. She had to look at EVERY toy in the store and changed her mind about 10 times... (Just like her mom!!!) The items started to get more and more expensive. She was starting to look at some really expensive babies and since she already has so many baby dolls, we decided to steer her towards a scooter. She had been riding the neighbors a few days before and was having so much fun. She found a pink one and was SO excited! The plan was to have her pay for the scooter with her binkys, but since I hid them all from her, I forgot to grab one before we left the house. She just told the cashier that she was getting the scooter because she "doesn't have a binky anymore" and that seemed to work for her.
She even took a nap and NO BINKY!!! Whenever we would get in the car, the first thing she would ask for was her binky, but I don't think she asked for a binky at all all day long!
She couldn't wait to try out her new big girl PINK scooter!!!

As part of our fun day, we also went and played at her favorite park. Rylee loved that!!! Especially playing on the tire swing.
She had such a fun day and I couldn't believe how well she did! The second night was MUCH harder. I think it took her about 2 1/2 hours to fall to sleep, but she did it and then never looked back! She cried a little but never asked for her binky once. She just wanted to talk to both Darren and I and said some pretty funny things and she did sneak out of her bed a couple times. After about the 3rd night, it was no big deal. It was kind of rough, but I am glad we stuck with it and Rylee is so proud of her new accomplishment. It is so nice to not have to remember a B-I-N-K wherever we go!!! We love our binky free BIG GIRL!!!