Binky Free!

William amazes me. Seriously. Everytime I am worried about how he'll handle a new situation, he takes it head on and doesn't look back. Of course there are exceptions, but getting rid of the "gink" was not one of them.
We won't go in to too many details here, but for weeks I'd known this day was coming. He'd been really good about only having it for naps and bed time, but then he got sick and needed it, and then we babysat for 2 weeks, and I was glad he could have that extra comfort during such a crazy time. But then it just became more of a hastle than a help. So I braced myself for a good 3 to 5 days of misery.
I'd really been feeling bad, like he wasn't ready, and maybe I wasn't ready, but we knew with baby girl coming, it needed to happen sooner than later. Well, last Monday, for the first time, I felt strongly that he was ready and that I was ready, so I braced myself and we snipped the tip!
That night when we gave it to William we explained to him that we were so sorry, but that it was "broken". He asked for a different one and we told him they were all broken. We gave him his other bedtime necesities (elephant, sippy cup, and a car) and a kiss goodnight and left a sad little boy crying in bed.
The part that amazes me? He only cried for half an hour. I think the time change helped because he was a little more tired That was the last time he cried for his binky! I helped him fall asleep for his nap the next day, but no tears. There have been times when he's been sad because of something else and says "gink?" but after reminding him that it was broken he stopped asking for it. He just got it.
Then a few days later he happened to open the drawer where I'd stashed the broken binkies, but he didn't even look at them. I asked him if he wanted to put them in the garbage because they were broken, and he took them from me and threw them away himself. Woo hoo! The binky was a HUGE help when we needed it, but it's nice to be moving on!

He is constantly surprising me with what a strong little boy he is. We couldn't feel more blessed to have him and can't wait to see what a good big brother he'll turn out to be!

(Pictures are from a hike in Park City)