I Forgot To Mention....

We have been so busy lately between the kids summer movie program, dance class, swim lessons and playdates that I realized I have forgotten to mention one of the most significant things that has happened in our household. Once we returned from CA last month I finally pulled the trigger, well the plug actually. I had talked about taking the binky away for awhile now and there was no better time to do it, atleast before I came up with more excuses:). I was preparing myself for the worst, this has been Rilyn's security for 3 years now between the traveling, new homes, new friends, and everything else that changes in a young baseball child's life. I made a point to try and convince Jeff to get on the boat with me on this and no matter what, DON'T GIVE IN!! I knew our biggest challenge would probably be on the nights that I work and Jeff is home with the girls by himself. Surprisingly, giving up the binky might have been one of the easiest transitions we have made so far! We started off by telling Rilyn she had to put all her binky's in a box to give to the mailman for all the babies that don't have binkies. She was fine with this at first, but once she realized that meant they were gone for good she didn't like that idea so much. We kept one binky in the house, but cut the top off so that it was "broken". She tried using this one a few times but would get frustrated and yell she didn't like the broken binky. It really only took about 3-4 days of just whining for binky at nap and bed time before she finally realized she didn't need it. The only problem has been that now it takes her sooooo much longer to fall asleep, but it is well worth it!! You can even tell how proud she is of herself because she now tells us when she wakes up everyday, "Guess what, I didn't sleep with a binky!" This has become her new thing, sleeping on Buggy in the corner instead of her monkey bed. The funny thing is she practically hides underneath all the pillows to actually fall asleep. There have been a couple nights when I have walked in to check on her and freak out about where she is because I don't see her.

Here's my big girl enjoying an indoor picnic for lunch, which she thought was so cool.