Bye-bye binkie?!

15 months, 4 weeks

There are some changes goin' on at Casa de Barbosa! We are attempting to get Brock off the binkie!! First, let me start by saying he ONLY gets one at night and they never leave his crib unless he's sick or we're on a long road trip in the car. However, I have been thinking about getting rid of it for quite some time. I struggled because he has always been SOOOOOOO easy to put to bed. We just give him his hugs, kisses, goodnights, lay him in the crib, hand him the binkie and we don't hear another peep until morning.

About 2 months ago I stopped giving him the binkie directly. We started putting stuffed animals, a pillow pet and a blanket in the crib as 'comfort items'. I left the binkie in the crib and if he found it, than so be it. Well, he almost ALWAYS found it and would fuss a bit until he did. Lately, I've really been wanting to try and take it away before it becomes a total habit that we just can't break. I made a mental goal of wanting it gone by 18 months. I just didn't want it to be completely devastating when we took it away, but at the same time, I didn't want to take away something that brought him comfort.

I've been doing research about the best ways to break it. Cold turkey, cutting a hole in it, putting weird tasting stuff on it (which I think is so mean!), giving it away, giving the 'you're a big boy now speech', etc. It was overwhelming and I thought the least painful seemed like the hole-cutting idea. I mentioned to CC (our daycare provider) that I was thinking about getting rid of it and she said the best way to do it is just cold turkey. It'll be hell for a few days, but it works.

We were going to wait a few weeks before we attempted to even try, but almost as if he knew, that same night that I talked to CC, he couldn't find his binkie. It had gotten wrapped up in his blanket and while he fussed a bit right when we put him down, he fell asleep and not a peep until morning. He usually loses the binkie almost immediately after falling asleep and doesn't wake up. He'll pick it up again when he wakes up in the morning, but other than that, once it's out, it's out.

So, I decided to go with it. Maybe this was the opportunity to just give it a shot. So we tried the next night, same thing, a little fussing (not crying) and then back to sleep. CC also took them out of his crib at nap time and said he had no issues. Friday was a bit of a set-back because for some reason, he was just crying for no reason before we even put him to bed. So we caved and gave the binkie because he was just crying SO HARD, but that didn't even help. It was one of maybe 2 nights in his short 15 months that he just wouldn't go down.

Saturday was back to it and while this time he did cry for awhile without it, he finally went to sleep after maybe 5 minutes. Same thing with nap time on Sunday and by Sunday night, not even a peep. He just laid in his crib until he fell asleep. Now, I know we're not even a full week in so we'll see how well this week goes. We will be away from home at least one night the next 2 weekends and we may have to bring old faithful back to get us through those nights.

So far, the only downfall is that sometimes on weekends he'd wake up and find his binkie and fall back asleep. Now, once he's up, he's up and ready to face the day! Maybe we weren't ready to take it away just yet afterall? I do still struggle a little feeling like is it really necessary to take it away right now? Does it really matter? It helps him sleep and it's not hurting anything. But, I know in the long run, the sooner we take it away the better and I just hope he's not laying there wondering why he doesn't get one anymore.

In other fun Brock news - I taught him to say 'Hola' this weekend! It's so cute. I really want him to be able to speak Spanish and thankfully a lot of the toys out now have a spanish version. We turn ours to Spanish a lot just to let him become familiar with another language.

He also is learning to take after his Mommy with his food tastes. My absolute favorite type of food no question is Mexican. I completely black out while eating chips and salsa and could eat it all day, every day. We went out for Mexican on Friday night and Brock saw us all dipping our chips in the salsa and wanted to try it too. At first he wasn't so sure, but he kept dipping his chips in and before long, he was dipping every bite into the salsa first. It was so hilarious!

We have a big weekend coming up! Uncle Drew and Aunt Erin's wedding is finally here! We are all in the wedding and can't wait to celebrate with them (and see Brock in his little tux as the ring bearer!)

Personality update

15 months, 3 weeks

Now that some of the big developmental milestones are behind us, there isn't much changing from week to week with Brock. So, I thought I would take some time to jot down a few of his little personality 'quirks' so we always remember what this time was like. He has such a big personality and makes us laugh every day! Just when you think it can't get anymore fun with him, he ups the ante!

He can point to his head, ears, eyes, nose, teeth and toes. 

Still LOVES to brush his teeth! He patiently lets me brush his 8 little teeth, then he takes over and does the rest. The other night, I brushed my teeth while he brushed his and he was just in awe!

He loves to Face Time with Poppy and Meme. As soon as he sees 'Poppy', he asks about Meme. He likes to lean over and give them (or ZZ) kisses on the phone or blow kisses to Meme. 

He makes the funniest faces at dinner. Silly faces, mad faces, annoyed faces, excited faces, he runs through the whole spectrum of emotions and usually smiles after each face. It's our nightly entertainment.

He now knows what a Jayhawk is and can (kind of) say it. We took him to the first KU game of the season last weekend and he would zero in on the Jayhawk anytime he was in our sight and just watch him walk up and down the stadium. One of these games, we're going to take him down to actually see him in person. He was such a champ at the game. It was hot and he was tired and getting over a cold, but he didn't get fussy until near the end of the game. 

Last night he was finishing up dinner in his high chair while I cleaned up the dishes and did some cleaning in the kitchen. I turned my radio on and would look over at him and dance. He started nodding his head to the music and had me just rolling on the floor laughing! He loves music and will either nod his head, bounce up and down or sway back and forth to the tunes!

Last week, we took him to get some ice cream at Sheridan's by our house. While we were there, a firetruck came roaring down the street. At first, he was intrigued, but as it got closer (and LOUDER) he freaked out and just started running. He just took off as fast as he could the other way and when I caught him you could just see the fear on his poor little face. He may be scarred for life on firetrucks! 

He is still just the best little man ever! He sleeps so well, eats so well and just is the happiest baby. He truly is the joy of our lives and we just love watching him grow and change and discover new things!