Yesterday was Chance’s second day of school. He goes every Tuesday and Thursday mornings. This time, he was SO excited to go. No apprehension at all, which made me VERY happy.
It was “RED” day. It somehow signified Creation. I LOVE that Chance goes to a Christian Preschool. Anyway… all the kids wore red and came home with red hearts on their cheeks. Here’s a picture:
That face cracks me up!
He didn’t only bring home red cheeks yesterday, though. Chance picked up a little bit of sore throat from Preschool and woke up 3 times last night sounding quite hoarse. He doesn’t have a fever, and his nose is running clear, but he says there’s an “owie” in his throat.
Other than us feeling a bit tired today, Chance seems to be doing fine… well… I’ll get to that.
Moving on to today.
Chance gave up his binkies today. Though he only uses it during his naps and bedtime, seriously… he’s THREE people, and it’s just time. So our plan was to bring the Vandergiessen’s tonight’s dinner AND gift baby Levi all of Chance’s old binkies.
Big boys go to school and get yummy treats. Babies need binkies.
We packed ‘em all up in a ziploc, saving ONE that we put into his new Build-A-Bear, conveniently named “Binkie Bear”, and “gave” them to baby Levi (nevermind that Laura put them back into my purse later).
Here’s the process of giving:
This face cracks me up too!!! He was actually excited to give it up.
Because ONE isn’t enough.
Savoring his last moments.
Handing it over with some sadness. Laura… thanks for playing along!!!
Yeah… so after we gave them up, we went to celebrate at Starbucks with a little Apple Juice and some Madeline’s.
Soon after that, we went home for a nap. This is where all hell breaks loose.
I put him down… with his doggie and his new binkie bear. He says, “I need my binkie. Let’s get it from the bear.” I tell him it doesn’t work that way. It can’t come out.
*TEARS*
He remembered putting the binkie IN the back of the bear, so he tried to find the opening again in the back. He realized it was permanently SHUT, so he started clawing at Binkie Bear, looking for any opening. When he finally realized we couldn’t open the bear up, he tossed it across the room with some serious fierceness.
After about 5 minutes of cuddles and him clinging to me (which is new… probably because he’s not feeling 100%), I just leave him in his room to cry it out. He’s done in 20 minutes and falls asleep.
I think: ”This is awesome!”
Yeah… NO!
He wakes up in about 30 minutes and starts screaming bloody murder again. I’m Skyping with my sister, Renee, and even though I check in a couple of times with him, he cries NON-STOP for an hour. Some of you may say, “Oh… that’s normal.” but it really isn’t for Chance. He’s a pretty chill kid.
After multiple texts with Brian about whether or not I should just give him a binkie until he feels better, we decide to call it “bad timing” and to try again later.
I go in there with a binkie and tell him, “Look… Mommy finally found one. Don’t lose it though, this is the very VERY last one.” I’m such a liar. He cuddles in and says “Thank you, Mommy. I just don’t feel very good right now.” As I pull him in, I just breathe him in… tears, sweat and all (he had worked himself into quite a doozy!) He may have worked himself into a fever too.
He fell asleep IMMEDIATELY after I put the binkie in his mouth. While he was still in my arms. Again… this is NOT normal for him. He never sleeps in our laps or anywhere besides a bed.
I SO wanted this “Good-bye Binkie” story to have a good ending… but I guess it’s not coming today.
Hayden had his until he was almost 4 (i KNOW – what were we thinking??). He started playing with it and it flew out the car window and that was the end of that.
Nate is a child who needs routine and doesn’t adjust well to sudden change, like binkies being taken away. If I recall correctly, we took binky away and replaced it with a sippy cup of a little bit of water at nap/bedtime. Still gets the comfort of the sucking thing, but it isnt’ something that you can keep in your mouth. And he wasn’t crazy about water (wanted juice) but it helped with the transition of no binkie.
You’re going to have some rough scenes for a few days, but like anything else, he’ll get used to not having it. But, I would wait until he’s feeling better to take it away.
Good luck!
Ryan lost interest in it on his own well before he turned 1. End of story.
Ethan… 11 months and still going… that story is TBD.
It only took one day to get the binkie out of the car. He used to “need” the binkie whenever we traveled.
Not trying to make excuses for myself or anything, but SERIOUSLY… under normal circumstances, I’d be a bit tougher on him and definitely not cave.
Just wait… I’ll have a part TWO to this whole extravaganza.
you are doing the best you can. when he feels better, start again. it will eventually work. i doubt we will see a binkie in his mouth at high school graduation!
i am in the process of blogging about our beloved “pony” as well.. it should be up soon… ev is just as addicted as chance!
Dude…you’re clearly not a “real” Asian mom. A real Asian mom would have hid them (no playing “give away”) and then told the child that she lost them on her own. And no…of course we don’t have money to buy more!
Kirk had his binkie for a long time. It actually messed with his baby teeth (he was also a thumb sucker). So my mom just slowly started cutting parts of it off until it was all gone. That seemed to work.
Hmmm…..Maybe you can bring me food again and then give me the last one?
I’m happy to play along again! 
I think that whole “binkie-messes-up-your-teeth” thing is false, because I had a binkie till I was 3 or so and my top teeth are fine without ever having braces. I think it may be genes.
As for you, Laura… FOR SURE!!!
I was babysitting for a little boy whose binkie was tied to the drawer in his bathroom and he sucked on it for a few minutes before he got into bed and then he was fine. He would just brush his teeth, suck on the binkie, and climb in and fall asleep.