Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Bye, Bye Binky

You might recall a few weeks ago Kate fell out of her swing and landed on her face in some rocks. It was very traumatic. However, her face healed quickly and we thought we were done.
Yesterday afternoon, Kate ran up to me and gave me a huge smile and my heart sunk. Her front left tooth was turning gray. I was panicked that she was going to lose her tooth. I looked up gray teeth online and did enough reading to figure that her tooth was probably just bruised. After calling our dentist that evening at home (hey, he's our neighbor), he confirmed that she most likely wouldn't lose her tooth, but it might be gray until she looses it. My research suggested that to keep the tooth from further weakening we needed to get rid of sippy cups and also her binky.
I was so not ready to get rid of her binky. We had just moved her into her big bed and re-began potty training a few days earlier. It was too much change at one time. But, we wanted her to keep her tooth, so we explained to Kate what was happening and how she couldn't have her binky anymore. Wow! It was a long night. Poor Kate!
The next day, we took Kate on a special date to Build A Bear Workshop. We have never been there before. I have never seen a child in complete awe before. Kate was in heaven. We told her she could pick out a special stuffed animal just for her. She picked a soft gray kitty. She helped stuff her kitty and put a special heart inside of her. Before they closed her up, Kate kissed her binky good-bye and put it inside her kitty. It was pretty sad, but Kate seemed happy to do it. We gave Kitty (yes, I know, original) a bath and registered her at the computers. Kate was so happy with Kitty and had to hold her the entire way home. I was pretty proud of her. She only asked once to open up Kitty to get her binky out. We told her that her binky was now part of Kitty and if she missed her binky, to give Kitty a big hug. She then said, "Pink binky is inside Kitty. Where is purple binky?" Hmmm. That one is gone, too.
Kate sleeps snuggled up to Kitty every night. She carries her around and has tea parties with her every day. It was such a hard thing giving up her binky, but she did it and gained a new friend!

6 comments:

Michelle Kelly said...

What a cute idea to put the binky inside the bear. But i love how smart she is to know she has more than just one. :)

Ariana said...

I hope she doesn't get ideas to do surgery on her kitty. ;-) That stinks about her tooth! Who knew they could bruise. Weird. Who is your dentist, BTW?

Winnie said...

What a brave girl! She's growing up. (Insert wistful sigh here.)

Carrie said...

great idea. So, has she cute it open on her own yet, since you won't help? :p

Gayle J. Randall said...

I'm still amazed at the great idea to put the binky in the kitty. Who thought of that! That is pure "parental genius." When I faced a similar fate with Valerie, I just had her throw it in the garbage just before the garbage truck came. How pathetic is that! You both are so much better parents! I'm proud of you, proud of Kate, and even proud of Kitty for holding on tight to binky.

Great Dane said...

Tresa, you need to tell Emily about this. She'll think it's the best story ever, since she loves cats.