The sad truth

I realized about a week ago that Cooper reaches for his binki, pacifier, schnuller; whichever you prefer to call it; out of habit, not out of necessity. I have always hooked it up by his shoulder, usually on the right side, and while watching him play I saw him reach up to his shoulder, follow the imaginary string down to wear it should end and move his hand toward his mouth. I hadn't hooked his binki on that day, yet he was going through the motions he normally took. He was in the middle of playing not needing to be soothed. I explained what I had seen to Fritz and on about Tuesday we decided to take it away during the day so Cooper would start to get the hang of not having it. I still hooked in to him at night and during nap time to aid him in relaxing himself to sleep. On Wednesday night he didn't even put it in his mouth. He reached out for his crib and when I laid him down he just put his head down and went to sleep. Friday morning I took it off as soon as he woke up and I got him out of bed. That afternoon he left to go spend the night at my parents. As soon as my mom left I realized I hadn't given them a binki for the evening. I knew they didn't have any at their house and I hoped they wouldn't go out and buy one just for that night. Cooper came back this afternoon perfectly fine. My mom told me he hadn't needed one the whole time he was there. I just laid him down for a nap and again he went without any struggle. It makes me horribly sad to realize that my little boy is no longer in need of "baby" things, but that he is growing up into a big boy now.

Only a year ago in the hospital he was my little baby, now he's a little man.