Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Pulling the Plug



After nearly three years, Kate is BINKY FREE!

That's right folks, we finally pulled the plug on this incessant sucker. We've been telling her for a couple of weeks that she's a big girl now and doesn't need it any more. Then on Friday night we told her that it was her very last night for the binky and that tomorrow we would be sending them to the cloud babies that need them.

Come Saturday morning, Mike went to the store and got some balloons while Kate and I watched the Pixar Short Partly Cloudy a couple of times so that she knew where her binkies were headed. We tried to make it a really memorable ceremony. Here are the pictures...
Oh yes, and that is the half-eaten balloon cookie she got as a consolation prize.

So it's been 4+ days and she's done amazingly well. Only asked for her binky a couple of times and has gone to bed at night without much fuss. That first night she asked for her blankie and when I gave it to her she said, "Please don't ever send my blankie away." So sad and so sweet at the same time.
I did say "at night" right? Oh, that's because since the flight of the binkies Kate hasn't had a nap. Previously she would skip her nap once a week or so, and last week she had a couple of WAY late nights after having had a nap, so we wondered if she was transitioning out of naps. I guess without a binkie, naptime just isn't worth it anymore. ;) Easier transition for her than for me BY FAR.

Kate is an amazing nearly 3-year-old. She is really into names and relationships, and she remembers names so well too. She tells us who is a daughter and who is a son and who has a mama. She loves to make-believe play with just about any pair of animals or dinosaurs or mermaids or dragons or whatever! She just has to have a toy for each hand and she's golden.

She comes up with the funniest things to say, too. She copies our words and intonations just perfectly. The other night when Mike got home she asked him, "How's your day, Daddy?" It was the way she said it--like an adult--that made it so memorable.
Yesterday as she was putting chapstick on my back (yep, my back) she was telling me, "Don't worry, Mama, it's just pressure. I'm making you beautiful." I tell her not to worry it's just pressure when I'm clipping her fingernails.

Another funny Kate story while we're on the subject:

The other night after having one of the biggest #2's on the potty Kate took a look and said, "Mama, I made some magic!"

We love you so much, Miss Kate.