I'm not sure who loved her binky ('dink') more- Hazel or me. Getting rid of it was something I kept putting off, and putting off... after our trip to Utah, after Christmas, after Disney World, after this, after that... She was only allowed to have it in bed (which made bed times super easy) or on trips (certainly the easiest way to keep her content on an airplane). In the past few weeks though, it has also led to her whining alllllll day long to go upstairs and get in her bed. All day long.
I made a plan with Isaac- we would get home from Disney World, wait a week so I could get some sleep and get our house back in order, and the next week we'd commence Operation Binky Removal. I was prepared for weeks of crying and not sleeping. Well, the day after we got home from our trip, the whining commenced, and I decided now was as good a time as any. I went upstairs, got the binky, snipped the top off, and showed it to Hazel. That's when the crying started.
Only it was coming from me, not Hazel.
She looked at the binky with a confused look on her face, attempted to suck it, and looked at it some more. I was full on sobbing at this point. As in, I could hardly breath! What had I done! My little girl was going to be devastated. I had destroyed her beloved binky! As someone that was very attached to a certain Wuzzle until I got married (woah) I couldn't believe I had just cut the head off of her own 'wuzzle'.
"I'm... so... sorry.... baby", I sobbed. Hazel looked at the binky and back at me, and she wiped the tears off my cheeks. "The binky broke."
"Dink roke" she repeated over and over, and kept trying it out in her mouth as I continued to cry. My baby! My baby is growing up! Babies can have binkies; grown up kids cannot. Oh, why was she growing so fast?! Why couldn't she keep her binky until she got married? Oh, she's going to be getting married so soon. Stay little, stay little!!
It was all very dramatic. (For me, at least.)
A few hours later came nap time. We talked about the binky being broken (I had composed myself by then) and Haze layed down in bed. She cried for 10 minutes in her crib, I cried for 10 minutes in my bed, then we both fell asleep for a looong nap.
That night, we talked about the binky being broken again. She started clinging to me and screaming her lungs out as I carried her over to her crib. Oh no, this was not going well. She made noises I have never knew could come out of such a tiny body, she screamed bloody murder for 55 minutes straight. Isaac was at work, so there I was alone, crying along with her, praying and hoping that this was not how bed time would go for the rest of our lives.
Tuesday brought 10 minutes of screaming at nap time and 10 seconds at bed time.
On Wednesday as I put Hazel down for her nap, she started screaming and clinging on to me, as per the last two naps. This time I sat in her room for a few minutes, then got up and said, 'You need to lay down and go to sleep now'. Hazel immediately stopped crying and said, in a very cheerful voice, 'ok!'
And that is the end of our binky story. She goes to sleep easily and cheerfully, and doesn't even ask about her binky. What? If I had known how easy that was going to be (on her, not me) I might have tackled it months ago. Well, maybe not- I certainly wasn't ready to say good bye to her cute smile behind the binky, how she talked with in, how she'd get a huge smile on her face when she saw it, and how it could instantly calm her down in any situation. I think I'm going to cry again.
Farewell dink. You were good to us all.
7 comments:
i cried the day we got rid of madilyn's. there is just something about that transition that makes them seem so much bigger!! she is a doll :)
I am crying right now, but because I am laughing so hard. Getting rid of the binkies was the hardest thing that I ever had to do with the twins. They were not as resilient as Hazel (who seriously looks tons like Olivia sometimes...wow). After we cut off the tips, they got mad. Really mad. Lauren chucked hers across the room. She would wake up in the middle of the night and try to look for it under her bed, but she would be so tired that she would fall asleep with her head under her bed. That's how we would find her in the morning. Poor thing. She was so traumatized. Sometimes, when she is really tired, she'll still cry for her precious pink binky.
Ooooh and I can't wait to see pictures from Hazel's second birthday. What's your theme?
Miss you guys.
Ahhh, the binky removal. I remember it well for Dominic. He LOVED his binky and had it all the time until he was almost 2...then I gave it to him only for naps and nighttime.
I just threw them away and told him he was a big boy and didn't need a binky anymore. He really didn't have a problem with it. He asked for it a few times and I reminded him that they were all gone. Kids are resilliant and it's funny how something so precious and dear to them is easily forgotten. I think we took Lily's away right before she turned 2. I am a binky lover too :))
When I cut a hole in Andrew's, I gave it to him, told him that it was broken when he couldn't figure out what was wrong, and the he had to go put it in the garbage can. I have the sweetest picture of him waving goodbye to his binky as the garbage man took it away. Once in awhile, out of the blue, he'll come up to me and say, "Garbage Man took broken binky." And it was over a year ago.
You are a brave woman! Seth may be taking his beloved "nummy nummy bink" to college with him, because I just don't have the heart to do it yet!
You make me laugh Sar :) Thanks for sharing!
I have very clear memories of a certain Wuzzle...
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