It's Official...finally!

We had a HUGE milestone in the Campbell house a few days ago. Arilyn finally gave up her binky! She only used it at night to fall asleep, but it still bothered me that she was almost 4 and still had it. She will be starting preschool in September and I told her that she couldn't go to school if she still used the binky. We had been talking about it for almost a month and I let her decide when she wanted to do it. And she finally said she was ready. It was long overdue, but she finally did it and we are SO proud of her! A friend of mine gave me the idea to take her to Build A Bear Workshop and make an animal then put the binky in the animal. Arilyn liked that idea, so that's what we did!

Arilyn stepping on the pedal to stuff her bear.

Arilyn rubbing the bear's heart on her tummy so the bear will 'never get hungry.'

And the BIG moment. Arilyn putting her binky in the bear. I thought she might not want to do it once we got there, but she didn't hesitate at all. She kept saying that she was a big girl and wanted to get rid of it!

The finished product! She looks pretty happy...right now! Haha! Later at bedtime it was a little different story!

Of course, Addison had to make a bear, too. We decided that her big milestone was going potty like a big girl, which she is doing extremely well with! We've had a few accidents here and there, but she is doing great and will tell me before she pees in her pants, which is good. And she has continued to wake up from naps and all night dry! So she definitely deserved a bear, too!

The lady told Addison to rub the heart on her leg so the bear could run really fast!

Then she said to rub it on her belly like Arilyn did. Addison goes all out and had to rub it on bare skin! It was hilarious!

Addison putting the heart in her bear.

Arilyn giving 'Binky Bear' a bath. She wanted to name it Binky Bear since it had her binky in it.

Addison giving her bear a bath.

Obviously the big test was bedtime, which I had prepared myself for the worst. Arilyn surprised me though and did surprising well. She did get very sad, but never cried. She said she still wanted her binky and didn't mean that she wanted to give it up today. So we talked with her for about 10 minutes and reinforced that she was a big girl and how proud we were of her and that it was ok to be sad. We prayed about it and asked God to help her feel better. We usually read a story and do a little devotion, but she didn't feel like reading a book, but just wanted to do the devotion and go to sleep. She got a little teary eyed when we started to leave and asked if I could stand by her door for a few minutes, which I did and she fell asleep within a couple minutes. As much as I hated that she still had a binky, I think it was just as hard for me as it was for her. It really broke my heart to see how truly sad she was. But it was something we had to do and will definitely be better for her! 

Addison had no problem going to sleep that night. Thankfully, she never really got attached to the binky, so we won't be crossing that bridge with her. I'm sure it will be something else though!