Elise's First Broken Heart....

It is an event that is bound to happen in every girls life. I remember my first real broken heart. I cried until I swear my heart really did hurt. Today, I told Elise we had to throw her binkies away. She has always loved her binkies - although we have only ever given them to her while she is sleeping. She has always known the rules and even from a very young age she would hand you her binkie when you went to get her from her crib. Because she has only ever taken them while in bed and because she is such a great sleeper I kept letting her take them. But...Lately she had been asking for them more and more. She begged for two at a time and was willing to go back to bed just to suck on the stupid pacifier. It was starting to bother me. Oh, and then...in the last few weeks she has awakened at night because she dropped her binkie and couldn't find it. So, I knew it was time and I had to make that step. This morning Elise kept getting her binkie and was walking around with it. I put it on top of my dresser so she went and got a stool so she could reach it. Then I moved it where she couldn't get it and she was throwing a fit. She isn't much of a fit thrower and I was very annoyed by the whole fighting over the binkie thing. I thought about it and I sat her down...I told her we had to give the binkies to the garbage man. She cried. And cried. And cried. She wailed. Snot flew. Her eyes were all red and puffy, her little tear stained face was so blotchy. It was like she lost her best friend. When it came time to take a nap - well, you can imagine how that went. She cried some more. She cried for two hours and didn't once even start to fall asleep. I tried to soothe her. I read her a book, sang her songs, rubbed her back, offered her various toys. Nothing helped. Then she asked me if she could sleep in the crib! She hasn't slept in that thing since April!!!! Poor baby. I am happy to report I did not give in. She was really tired at bedtime tonight. She came out of her room a few times and after a stern "talking to" she did stay in her bed. I heard her crying for a few minutes but that is it. She has been sleeping binkie free since! It really was much easier than I expected. She is really an amazingly good child.