Progress on Another Front

We may not be a fully potty-trained household, but I am pleased to announce that our home is now a BF (Binky-free) Zone.

Allie had been using her Binky just at night. Oh, and those random times throughout the day when she would sneak into her room for a Binky fix. I'd see her hunched over next to her bed, back to the door, and know exactly what she was doing. "Allie," I'd say, "it's not Binky time!" She'd snap to an upright position, drop the Binky, and giggle. Caught in the act.

Jeff and I had been plotting on how we could stage Operation Binky Removal but hadn't yet committed to what was sure to be a traumatic event.

When we were in Virginia for Thanksgiving, we stayed at a hotel. In a rush to leave one morning, I neglected to retrieve the Binky (the only remaining one in our possession) from the entangled sheets in which Allie had slept. Sure enough, when we returned that evening we found a freshly made bed with new sheets and no sign of Binky anywhere.

And that, as they say, was that -- the unceremonious demise of the Binky.

The first few nights were difficult; it took Allie at least an hour and a half to fall asleep, a time punctuated by repeated calls for Binky, for a drink, for books, for stuffed animals, for cover adjustment, for pretty much any flimsy excuse she could summon.

Last night she fell asleep right away. Free at last! If only I could work up the nerve to dispatch her Pullups so easily...