I'm such a softie.

So. New and exciting things happening this week. The latest? Dropping the bink, aka, the pacifier. Little was very much in love with his bink. I thought I was tough though. From about 11 months on I only let him have it at nap and bedtime, and I really stuck with it. I really did! (OKAY. except on long car rides...and not-so kid friendly restaurants...and movie theaters {what was I thinking?!} I think that's it.)**

For about a year now I've been telling myself we really need to get rid of it. Really. But I've been putting it off. Why? Uh, just the fact that he would MARRY it, if he could. I've been noticing a difference in his bite, which can be super expensive to fix. And he had started hiding them all over the house, so the only bedtime and naptime deal was getting ruined. He also started asking for it allll day, so I knew it was time. He's got another love affair going on with his blankie, which is a-okay with me. Blankie can go off with him to college as far as I'm concerned.

Monday was 'drop the bink' day. After much enouragement from Aunt D (Diane), I took one of his favorites and cut the tip off. I showed it to him, and said "Uh OH, Steven LOOK!". He looks at it, tries to put it in his mouth and says "oh no mama, bink is BROKEN!". He handed it back to me, and that was that. I put him down at naptime that day, offered the broken bink (because NO WAY was I going to be the bad guy in all of this) and he didn't want it. And knowing there are about eleventy-trillion others in the house (which I hid) he never asked for another one. All week. Naptime was easy, bedtime was easy. No wakings, whatsoever. By the second day he wouldn't even let me leave it in the room with him. "Take it, Mama, it's BROKEN!"

What a big boy.

BUT. While he was sleeping just fine during naptime, GETTING there was becoming quite a feat. Like today? I work from home at noon on Sundays, and I thought I would wear him out really well this morning. I took him to the splash park at 10am and we had a grand ole time, complete with almost falling alseep at lunch. PERFECT.

An hour and a half after being put down he's still awake, not in his bed, and I had lost count of how many times I had to yell "GET BACK IN BED!" and I was about to rip my ears off if I heard him cry one.more.time. Dropping it the SECOND time will be just as easy as the first, right? RIGHT?!

I started typing this post right after I gave his bink back. See those two stars right at the end of the first paragraph? That's how long it took him to fall asleep with his bink. ::sigh::

ps- I took it out right after I took this picture. I swear.