More Changes

Poor Will had a crazy couple of months of changes this year!  We started and for the most part completed potty training and moved him to a big boy bed.  I took the kids to their dentist appointment at the end of February and the dentist said that we shouldn't wait any longer to get rid of the binkie because it was starting to affect his bite.   

So, we started talking about it with him and trying to figure out what would motivate him to get rid of them.  I thought it was going to have to be something big.  I told him one morning at the beginning of March, that if he would throw his binkies in the garbage, I would give him a new car.  He immediately said no- I mean, didn't even think about it for a second!!  I told Clay later that night and he decided to ask him and this time Will decided he was game!!!  Oops! Not exactly what we were prepared for, just minutes before I was leaving for the evening and not long before bedtime but we decided to give it a try hoping he would surprise us.  Will put his binkies in the garbage (and Clay quickly retrieved them just in case) and was thrilled to have a new car! 

Of course, when bedtime came around, Will decided that he wanted them back and he didn't want the car.  Clay let him try to work it out on his own for awhile but after about 45 min. of tears, he finally went in and gave him the binkies back and took the car.    The next morning, Will jumped out of bed, and told me he wanted the car and put his binkies in the garbage!!!  He was fine with it until naptime came around and then again, didn't want the car anymore and just wanted the binkies.  We played this game for another day and then finally, the next day when he woke up and wanted the car instead....I cut off the tips of the binkies instead of throwing them away!  This way, when he was crying for them, I'd have something to give him but he wouldn't be able to suck on them. 

He wasn't sure what to think of them and could tell that he didn't want them because they were now broken.  Naptime came around and it was pretty rough.  He cried and cried for an hour because he was so upset about the binkies and me breaking them.  He just wanted me to fix them.   It was pretty sad. 

That night, when he went to bed, he didn't really cry but he did want to "hold" his binkies while he slept so we have agreed to let him do that since it provides the comfort he needs but doesn't affect his teeth! 

So far, a month later, naps have been hit and miss more often than before we cut the tips off (and I had to cut them down almost to the end because I caught him still trying to put them in his mouth!) but he's still napping most days and sleeping fine at night.   We have decided to give him a couple of months before we begin the last big pre-baby change which will be moving him into Addie's room (yikes!)