Things I learned this weekend....

Last night was the night- the night to take away all the binki's for good! My little one has been very attached since she was still in the hospital, and I was ok with that because she needed the extra oral stimulation. The past 2 weeks I have watched her hide it, wrap it in a blanket and put it to sleep, and chuck it into the back seat of the car- that was when I realized it was no longer a total comfort and necessity, but a toy. So last night was the night, and binki is now gone at our house!

We did bedtime like usual and right before putting her down I gave her a talk about how she is such a big girl and can do this and this and this, so she doesnt need a binki anymore- binki's are for babies. She was fine with that. Then I told her we would go to the store tomorrow and she could pick out any blanket fabric she wanted- she instantly said "horses?!?" and I said yes.

So the time comes to put her in her bed. She never said the word, but instantly started screaming like a mad woman. This went on about half an hour. Finally I went in and she wanted me to rock and sing to her, so I did. She fell asleep and of course as soon as I moved she wanted me to lay in her bed by her....

She had started escaping the confines of her crib at 18 months or younger, and when we put her in a toddler bed she did great to sleep, but it took like 4 hours for her to stop playing long enough to do it! So one night I was SO frustrated I put the crib back together- she hasnt scaled it yet since! (Once and she hurt her neck and never tried again!) So you can see how laying in her bed with her was not happening....

So I tried to rub her back and she went to sleep- then I told her I needed to go potty and would be right back. it worked for a full minute until she realized I wasnt coming back! She started howling and screaming my name. I tried the whole "poke holes in the binki" thing but it didnt seem to work- too much suction still. So I cut part of the tip off one of them. I went in and handed it to her. She popped it into her mouth rolled over and then grabbed the thing out, yelled at it, yelled at me and the threw it down- she was NOT buying it!

So i went back in after a little while and held her and sang to her again. She fell asleep even easier this time- I knew she was exhausted which is why I chose last night! As soon as the singing and rocking stopped and she was still sleeping I knew I would make it- until I set her down and she once again patted her bed for me to lay down....

I comprimised by rubbing her back and still singing the same song over and over again- she kept saying "more", "more"! So once she was finally almost asleep I couldnt stand any longer so I told her I would hold her hand. Now any mom knows this is just a bad move all together... How int he world would I get away from this one?!? So I sat there 10 minutes or what felt like 2 hours... Finally she was sound asleep and snoring, so I tried to wrap her hand around the bar of her bed.... Nope, she instantly thrust her hand back at me. This happened at least 4 times.

Finally I figured she would be ok either way, she had been asleep long enough she wouldnt remember me leaving. She instantly woke up and looked at me and said "hand!" To which I replied- "hold Mickey Mouse's hand!" Somehow this worked! I couldnt beleive it! lol. She whined and whimpered about 2 minutes after that and promptly fell to sleep- for the ENTIRE NIGHT! She didnt wake up once!

When she did wake up this morning the first thing she said to me was- "Blankie, horses! Big girl!" hahaha i guess she gets it after all!

And she never did ask for one- last night or now!

So today one of my goals is to de-toy the room and take down the crib, then maybe I can actually lay next to her! hehe.

Hurray for big girls!