Cooper is now BINK FREE!

We took the leap this afternoon at naptime and went bink free for the 1st time! Since Coop will be 21 months old tomorrow (WOW, I am still having a hard time getting a grasp on where the time has gone!), we thought it was beyond time to get rid of it once and for all (we broke E's habit at 18 months, 6 weeks before Cooper arrived)! So today as we headed downtown for lunch we started prepping him that his binks were gone and that we'd sent them on to the babies who still needed them - that he was a big boy now and big boys don't use binks. Evan went on to tell him that Natalie was a baby and she used binks...so then it became, "Coop we've sent your binks to baby Natalie because she really needs them and your a big boy and you don't". He seemed to be okay with this idea! So on the way home, I asked him if he knew where his binks were and he said "home"....."nope buddy, remember we sent them to baby Natalie"...."bink, baby..Nat Nat (that is what Aunt Leigh calls Natalie so we had him say it since it was much easier for him)"...."yes, that is right - there are no binks at home any more, we've sent them to baby Natalie...baby Nat Nat!" We thought since he was pretty tired it wouldn't be much of a problem getting him to sleep, but as soon as we got him ready for his nap in his room, he started saying "bink". So there we go through the whole story again and he moaned and groaned for a bit about it, whining "mamma, bink....uhhh....mamma, bink", but seemed to be okay with not getting it once I offered him up his blankie. Luckily, he has recently found some attachment to his satin/velveet blanket (thanks to seeing Evan who HAS to have his when he sleeps) and also this froggy silk lovey he got before he was born, so maybe that will make the transition a bit easier for him.

I tried to make it easier on him and tried singing him to sleep (by this point I knew he was very tired), but you could sense that he was still pretty anxious about not having the bink and continued to moan and groan while laying down. I soon realized the only way that it was going to work was to just walk out and let him try to fall asleep on his own. Well, he cried for the better part of 20 minutes and then, just as I hoped, knocked out! He slept for about 45 minutes, woke up and whimpered (not as much of a cry as before) and fell back to sleep after about 10 minutes and then went onto sleep for another hour and 45 minutes (when I finally had to go in and wake him because it was getting to late and I didn't want him to have trouble sleeping tonight). He managed to get over a 2 1/2 hour nap which was wonderful. Hopefully the transition goes much smoother than what I've envisioned it to be. I was afraid no nap was going to be had or that he was never going to able to get back to sleep once he woke up after the first 45 minutes...but he completely surprised me! Now I guess we wait to see what bedtime brings!! I'll be sure and fill you in in a few days on his progress. I've rid the place of any binks so that when he wakes up crying for it in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep...I am the one that doesn't cave and go looking for one! Maybe I'm the one you should be rooting for!!?!?!

Here are a few shots of the little man after that 1st wonderful "bink-free" nap!!