Bye Bye Binky...

Binky, pacifier... whichever way you choose to call it, means comfort for a lot of babies and parents out there. So, I've been prepping for this moment for a while... racking my brain for ideas to get this accomplished with the least amount of  torture possible. After talking to my coworker yesterday about getting Leyla off of her binky, I decided to just go for it. Just as I did when I got her to sleep in her own bed again. She wasn't using one at school anyway... just in the car and at night. It would take some strategy though... Making it just "disappear" clearly had not worked for us...

Every time Leyla spoke on our way home from school, I told her that I couldn't understand her because she had her binky in her mouth. So, she would take it out and repeat what she said... After which I would say, "See? It's so much easier to understand you without your binky!" I asked her if she was a baby or a big girl. When she answered, "big girl" I said, "Well, a big girl doesn't need a binky". I could see the wheels turning in her head. I suggested, since she doesn't need them, that she throw them away in the trash can... all by herself. I held my breath and waited for her answer. Surprisingly, she agreed! When we parked in the garage, she somehow found her extra binky stashed in the back of the car and stuck BOTH in her mouth at the same time... One in each corner of her mouth! My poor binky addict! When we walked into our kitchen, I wondered if she would actually follow through with it. That's when she walked over to the trash can, pulled both binkies out of her mouth, and... wait for it... THREW.THEM.AWAY! All on her own! "YAY! You're such a big girl!" I exclaimed while we high-fived and happy danced. She did ask for it a couple times last night... and we just had to stand our ground. It took her a little longer than usual to fall asleep but I'm happy to say that there were no other major issues!

This morning, she woke up and tearfully asked for her binky. =( Thank goodness she was fine after I reminded her of her big accomplishment the day before. *SNIFF* I'll never forget the mental image of Leyla with her 2 binkies in her mouth just trying to get her fill before she had to say goodbye to them! {AWW!}

Here are a few pictures I took when picking Leyla up from school a few days ago. She spotted me coming from WAAAAY across the playground and came running over. =) There's nothing like being greeted this way after a long day of work...

She yelled, "MAMA! MAMA!" as she ran over. =)

Happy Thursday!