bye bye binky (for real this time)

Celia has still been using her binky when she falls asleep, and sometimes would go get it out of her room when she needed some comfort. I've talked about getting rid of the binky before, but decided it was not a good time to take the binky away when we were going through so many other changes. It really did serve a purpose in giving Pita comfort, and it wasn't as if she was going places with it and keeping it in her mouth all the time. So, now that Henry's born and we're more settled in, and now that Celia has turned three I decided it was time. Around her birthday I started telling her that she didn't need the binky anymore and that it wasn't good for her mouth now that she's getting big. She started getting used to that idea, and I knew she had her first dentist appointment coming up and the dentist would reinforce that.

The dental hygienist told Pita that the Tooth Fairy took binkies as well as teeth, and that Celia could leave her binky for the Tooth Fairy and get a present. Pita and I talked about that a little after her appointment, and she didn't like the idea of her binkies just disappearing. She even started to cry a little, not in a tantrum-y whiny way, but truly sad. So I thought of an alternative, and asked her if she'd like to make a special binky teddy bear and put her binkies inside it. That way she could keep her binkies forever, but they would be part of the bear and she wouldn't put them in her mouth anymore. She liked that idea a lot and immediately said she wanted a blue bear. Since I'd gotten us both psyched up, I figured we should do it right away before either of us lost our nerve! I asked Chris if he could get home from work in time for us to go out after dinner, and he could. So off we went to the mall and the Build-a-Bear store.

First of all, the mall itself was an event. We go so rarely that Celia wouldn't have remembered ever being there. It was new and exciting to her. As for Chris and me, it kind of felt like we were in a foreign country. Ha! We were walking through JC Penney, kind of dazed by the lights and bright colors, all that stuff, and all of it looking so foreign to us, and we realized how out of touch we are with current pop culture and fashion.

The elevator and escalator were exciting for Pita, too.

Anyway, we went into the store and they did indeed have a blue teddy bear, so Celia took one and we went through the process of putting it together. Pita put her binkies inside the bear without hesitation.

He got fluffed up, sewn up, and Celia gave him a bath. His name is Bink, of course.

And just like that, the deed was done!

We went home and had the usual evening and bedtime routine. Pita went to bed with no problems, but she did end up crying a little and calling for us a few times. She really did try to fall asleep on her own, poor thing, but she had a little trouble. I finally lay down with her until she fell asleep, and I gave her some suggestions for how to relax and fall asleep since she didn't have a binky. She was really tired, so she fell asleep before long. I thought she might call for us in the night, but she didn't at all! She did get up a half hour earlier than usual. It went pretty well! Hopefully each night will get easier.