Sunday, April 25, 2010

binki fairy arrives again

As you may have noticed in a few pictures, Lily still has her binki. Until Friday. The binki fairy arrived.

This time around, it was a little more brutal.

First, Dave helped her get super excited about it. The binki fairy left a letter in the mail and Lily was so eager to put her binki's in and return it to the mail box.

She was walking around yelling, "I'm a big girl" and giving everyone high fives. She fell asleep like a champ, no crying.

2.5 hours later, it all hit the fan. She cried almost the entire night. She was in my bed until 2:30 a.m. and then I put her back in her bed. She continued to cry and then finally fell asleep at 5:30.

The next day while on our way into Safeway and she bursts into tears begging for her binki.

Once we recovered from that one it was onto another one every few hours or so. It kind of felt like withdrawals.

That night, she fought sleep like crazy. At one point she asked, again, for her bink's back and I told her that 3 year olds don't have binki's. She told me that she no longer wanted to be be 3 and wanted to be 2. She's smart and the girl knows what she wants -- a binki.

Last night, much better. Only a few cries.

Tonight, fell asleep great, or so Dave told me. I was grocery shopping.

I knew this would be hard and that to move her out of the habit would be tough. And I know there are many people who would say that they would never start the binki in the first place. I love the binki. Even with this one horrible week. It's given me 3 years of great sleep (which will still be great), quick escapes from crying fits, and comfort for an owie. It's my backup plan and I have LOVED my backup plan.

We're down to one kid with a binki and one kid in diapers. I see the light at the end.

4 comments:

Kate said...

Impressive! I fought using one with L so hard and then finally gave in and thought, "why in the heck did I wait so long?". So, M got one the first day home from the hospital!! You are right, giving it up is hard but it's one of those mommy trad-offs we have talked about and for our family - WELL worth it! As long as they are gone by 3, and not walking around talking with them in their mouths at 2-3.....research shows no speech affects so you are all set! (that was the slp in me) love you!

Julie said...

I read "bikini" for the first 3 paragraphs and couldn't figure out why she couldn't sleep without it! DUH! :) We LOVED ours, but it left at around a year. The trick we were told (and has worked for all that I've known to try it) is cutting the end off. They think it's broken. I don't know if you could trick them at 3 though! Glad she's back on track sleeping.

Shelby said...

Way to go big girl Lily!!! Way to go momma and daddy too! (oh...and way to go Binki Fairy. YOU'RE a genius!"

Ashley N said...

I'm a HUGE fan of the binki...my four year old used one until she was just over 2years old, and now my six month old has one. We used a technique similar to yours for getting rid of it with my big girl, and will do the same when baby girl is around the same age. I totally agree with you...the few days of misery when giving it up is a small price to pay for several years of comfort for your little one. Love your blog...have read for a while now, but never commented.