My little Elley is becoming such a big girl. I'm excited for all the new things she is doing. This past summer we have accomplished 3 big milestones for this big 2 year old.
For those of you that know Elley well, you know that she loved her binky. I've even posted cries for help in getting rid of that thing. Like any mom, I wanted to do the right thing and take it away at the right time...but when was that? First of all, I just want to note, that I said I would never give my kids binkies....but that was before I had them. They day Elley was born the nurse that was testing her hearing stuck a binky in her mouth and that was it! She loved it so much that we caved and she became a binky baby!
So, back to my question.......when is the right time to take away a binky? At one? After the baby comes? At two? After our vacation that requires a 7 hour car ride?
Well, one seemed too young, and I didn't want to take it away before Molly came along....in case she had a hard time adjusting to a new baby. At age 2...it was my only saving grace, and that car ride would of been a living hell without it.
So, after that 7 hour car ride this summer we decided that it was time. My niece Jordan came and stayed a week with us this summer and she had the great idea of letting her buy something with the binky. One night we went to the mall and made our regular stop into the Disney store. Of course Elley went crazy looking at all the princess stuff. She found a Sleeping Beauty make up bag with all sorts of make up, nail and hair accessories. She loved it and didn't want to put it down. That night we talked about that princess toy and how fun it would be to bring it home. I told Elley we could go to the store the next day and she could buy it with her binky. I talked to her a lot about this, explaining that she had to give the lady her binky for the toy. Elley seemed to understand and even put other binkies in the garbage. The very next day Elley asked about the princess toy and again we talked about giving the lady the binky for the toy and Elley seemed okay with it.
That night we put the binky in a baggie and took a trip down to the mall. She immediately ran to the toy she had seen the night before and said, "let's buy it momma." It was a miracle, this was really going to work. we walked up to the counter and I told the check out lady what Elley was doing, and this lady really helped with our process. She scanned the toy and then said to Elley, "that will be one binky please." Elley loved it! She handed the baggie to the lady and the lady handed her the new toy which was like a purse and needless to say, Elley carried it around the whole mall and even to church the next day.
Now I'm not going to sugar coat this whole situation and say that it worked perfect or that there we no tears later that night, because it wasn't tear free! That night, when all the excitement of the mall and the new toy was coming to an end, reality set in for this big 2 year old girl. As I was putting her to bed she asked for her binky. We then talked about her toy and how she gave her binky to the lady. I gave Elley her blanket and even let her sleep with her new toy. At one point she even told me she didn't want her new toy anymore and she just wanted her binky. It was a rough couple of nights and a lot of talking about buying the toy with that binky..... but we made it and she hasn't asked for it since.
Here are a few pictures of Elley with her binky in the baggie
Getting ready to go into the mall
Another HUGE milestone for us was potty training. This one has been a long process. It's nice to look back and have it all behind us. Don't get me wrong, she still has her accidents but it's so nice only having one girl in diapers
We "started" potty training when she turned 2. What I mean by "started" is we talked about it, got books about it, and tried sitting on the toilet. We really started getting serious about it in late spring/early summer. It was nice potty training in the summer for those days when she went #2 in her paints, we could just hose her off outside. The joys of potty training...yuck!
And now the last........A BIG GIRL BED!!! What an exciting night this was! Molly has been sleeping in a port-a-crib in our closet since she was born. There really wasn't a rush to get Elley into a bed. In fact, a friend of mine gave us a toddler bed but Elley didn't really want to sleep in it so I never pushed it. This summer I bought Elley a bed frame at a garage sale but never got a mattress. Elley wanted to set up her big girl bed but mommy and daddy kept putting off buying a mattress. Well, it was time for Molly to move upstairs so we went down to Costco and got Elley a mattress. She had so much fun putting her room together with me. She loved moving her toys around and making her new bed. I even got a little choked up just looking at her new room. After we made her bed she said to me, "okay momma, you turn off the lights and get out because I'm tired."
Here are a few pictures of her new room
I love this little girl!!!
Daddy gave Molly a taste of his smoothie
Noodle head. She really put the noodles on her head. This was the first time we gave her spaghetti noodles, and she didn't know what to do with them.
Trying to get some lunch in her before her nap.
