Pumpkins

We won't be in our current house for Halloween.  Hopefully we'll still find something fun for Little Sir to do on the other side of the state (hopefully we aren't so exhausted from the move that we don't feign a complete lack of knowledge of the holiday.)

Before we knew we were going to be moving so soon I had started a makeover on my small nod to fall.  I finished it up today (as I'm trying to finish all of my in-progress projects before we pack up our lives.)

Little Sir LOVES pumpkins.  In fact his very first outing ever was to a pumpkin patch.

This is him at just over a year.

 And last year.

I'm betting that there will be a fun place near Omak to find pumpkins this year, but in the mean time, we can enjoy some that won't spoil if I forget to unpack them!

The biggest one was at Target, must have been left over from last year, as it was in their clearance section for a dollar.  I just dusted it with a little gold spray paint.
   

 The middle one I found at Ross.  It was kind of country-ish colors so I spray painted it copper and then dusted it with gold as well.
 

The small one came from Joanne's.  It was your typical orange resin decorative pumpkin.  Not my style, so it got a couple of coats of cream paint, then a dusting of copper, and finally some glaze.

With the delightful enthusiasm of a three year old, Little Sir thinks they are wonderful.  I kind of like them myself.

The Great Binky Give Up - The End of the Mimi

Thank you to my dear friend, Tabitha, for this idea.  It was a lot of fun and has been so helpful over the last 2 days as Little Sir continues his adjustment.



He wasn't sure about the floppy, lifeless puppy we handed him after he had chosen a fluffy fun doggie, but trusted us as we assured him that we were going to "build" him.



Getting ready, this is a big step and he knows it.



Fill 'im up!



He's ready.



In goes the Mimi!  (Oh that face!)


He very carefully followed the lady's instructions on how to prepare the doggy's heart.


Blurry photo, but he was so happy to have brought his puppy to life.




He gave Mimi Doggy a very thorough air bath.



And he chose a bandanna in his favorite color to tie around his neck. Daddy helped him.



Lastly Mimi Doggy got a birth certificate.



We had one very happy little boy on our hands.



We also took him to have a special dinner and Mimi Doggy was his constant companion.

It has now been 2 full days without the Mimi. He did have a little bit of trouble getting to sleep the first two nights. Tonight he was able to get to sleep with almost no trouble. There has been very little crying throughout the entire week. Even though I know it was a difficult week for him, I think doing all of these fun things made the transition for him a lot easier.

Saturday he found a long lost Binky in the garage. He didn't put it in his mouth, he brought it to me and showed me (with much excitement.) I told he that he didn't use Mimies anymore and that he could either throw it in the garbage or give it to the Lion Baby. He accepted that without trouble, said he wanted to give it to the Lion Baby and since Little Lion was sleeping he gave it to me to wash off and give to him later.

He loves Mimi Doggy very much except for when he is struggling and asks for his Mimi, then we give him his doggy and remind him that his Mimi is inside the doggy now. He will then throw the Mimi Doggy to the floor in frustration. It is a good outlet for him and it is a good way for the Duke and I to be consistent in helping him through those difficult moments. It isn't long before he is picking Mimi Doggy up and hugging him tight.

The Great Binky Give Up was a great success. It was still hard, but it made a week that could have been horrible and instead turned it into a fun and memorable experience.

The Great Binky Give Up - Phase Four

Today was the easiest day of the project so far. We tackled it in the morning before Little Sir left for preschool and I think he actually enjoyed it! There were no tears, no sad phases, no problems.
As we were talking last week about how Little Sir wanted to give up his Mimi's he remembered a time that we tried before, several months ago when I let him use scissors to cut the silicone portion of his Mimi off. For some strange reason he finds this activity highly appealing. (We won't discuss the fact that I find that disturbing.)



So, after breakfast he held onto is Mimi while I got everything ready.



He was excited to get right to work when the scissors showed up.



Sending it up in the sky or out to sea, very traumatic, destroying it, great fun. The kid is strange.



Then he put it in a special bag that we made for the garbage man so he would know what it was and how special it was. (that is a giant Mimi attached to it.)



He was very proud of himself (and so am I.)



Then outside on our way to preschool.



He throws it in the garbage with no ceremony what-so-ever.



He replaces the lid and runs happily off to the car so he can get to school.


Today was so easy and painless. We'll see how he does at preschool and what tonight will bring. Tomorrow is Phase 5, the final phase. Wish us luck!

The Great Binky Give Up - Phase Three

Today we packed up half the house and moved this circus to Golden Gardens Park, which is as beachy as Seattle gets. Little Sir was torn, he was excited to go to the beach (sand and water are his two favorite forms of matter) but he knew why we were going, and he wasn't very excited about that.
I knew that we had to get the Mimi business out of the way first thing so we could enjoy the rest of the day. Little Sir was not as ready to get down to business.



This was his reaction very soon after arrival when I told him it was time. He recovered quickly, though.



He "held his Mimi in his mouth" for a few moments while holding onto the little boat that would carry it away to the new baby who lived far away.



He placed the Mimi in the boat along with some special pretty rocks we picked out on our way down to the water as a present for the baby. (Rocks are his third favorite form of matter, and more readily available than sand and water, which is a major bonus.)



He held the boat for a few moments to say goodbye,



Then he place the boat on the ground near the water and told me that the water would come to take it away. (Yes, my child understands tides, he is brilliant.)



He turned



and walked away.



His understanding of tides is still limited and it was clear that the tide was going out, so I offered to walk it out into the water for him.



He agreed and stood on the beach to watch me as I walked it out about 20 feet. (I did NOT want it to come back!)




Away it sailed.



If you look close (or click through to photobucket and look at the full size photo) you can see an orange speck floating out to sea.



When I came back I didn't ask him how he felt, it was heartbrakingly clear. I just snapped a series of photos as he watched the boat sail away.




We quietly ate lunch and after a while I told him I was very proud of him. He said "Yeah, I'm a big boy, but I'm still sad." And then I shoved a hand full of sand down my throat to make myself feel better.
The seagulls helped lighten the mood. I started throwing the remains of Little Sir's sandwich up in the air and they would catch them in mid air while putting on the Seagull version of an ultimate fighting match. It was very impressive, especially for the boy.



Little Sir decided to get in on the action and spent some quality time chasing seagulls.



He was much happier when he returned.



Then we built a sand castle together.



He dutifully destroyed it.



Later I took him for an ice cream cone and for awhile all was right with the world.

He fell asleep in the car without the assistance of a Mimi but was rudely awoken by a hungry little brother who screamed half of the way home from Golden Gardens. There were some tantrums and tears over the Mimi and after some time I decided to skip the nap.

Tonight I put tomorrow's Mimi on his pillow for him to use when he went to sleep. However, I told him that he could only use it while he was actually in bed. He could also choose to come sit with me in the big red rocking chair and I would rock him and sing him songs, but the Mimi could not come. He held the Mimi in his mouth for just a few seconds, then threw it back on the bed and joined me on the rocking chair. He fell asleep not long after as I rocked him and sang to him, no fuss, no tears, and no Mimi! I am so proud of him and I think we are both going to be OK.

The Great Binky Give Up - Phase Two

Phase Two was much easier on the little dude. While he was at pre-school today the Binky Fairy paid a visit to our home to take away one beloved Mimi and leave a very special present.



Little Sir was a little sad when I came to pick him up from preschool and we talked about how the Binky fairy had been to our house, but all of that sadness disappeared when he walked into the family room.



Along with the new "VERY BIG!!!" digger was a note from the Binky Fairy with her picture on it (it's a photograph of a toy I got off Google images.)



And a photograph of the new digger with the Mimi it was trade for.



I tied yesterday's balloon to the digger to help tie the two events together. It helped, he made a comment about the balloon and the Mimi that went away in the sky on the balloons.



This was his initial reaction (dampened slightly by the fact that he had just spilled water down the front of him - and no I did not intend that pun, that's just how it came out.)




He happily spent the rest of the evening playing with is new digger, never asking once about his Mimi.



The Binky Fairy (who must only be a distant relative of the Tooth Fairy) also left him some of his favorite candy, Smarties.

The only trouble we had revolved around a parental mistake. I made something he had never had for dinner tonight and we struggled over dinner for far too long. This left the poor little guy too tired for our scheduled "practice" night of going to bed without his Mimi. We had talked about it several times over the last two days and he had agreed to it, but when the time came, he was exhausted and bedtime was a series of tantrums and crying until our "practice" was over and he got to have his Mimi while he was actually in bed.

I will be more careful the rest of the week to make things he likes for dinner and to get him to bed early enough to (hopefully) prevent a repeat of tonight.

Wish us luck!

(oh, and less anyone think I've gone off the deep end spending a ton of money to wean my little dude of his Mimi, the balloons were from the dollar store and the digger was a $3.00 find at Goodwill. No need to spend a ton of money where a small amount will do. I do have something a little more expensive planned for the last day, but the whole affair will be under $30.00)