Like Andy.

Today is the day that we are saying goodbye to Harrison's bobos. It's been a long time coming. I should have weaned him wayyyy back when he turned 1 but since I was pregnant and big changes were coming soon, I didn't want to rock his world any more than I had to. Then I told myself I would do it at 2...but then 2 came and then it was Christmas in a few weeks and who could even think about robbing a sweet little boy's joy that close to Christmas?!?! I kept telling myself that maybe the older he got the less attached he would become. Boy, was I wrong on that one! We only let him have them at naps and bedtime but lately he's been sneaking them out and hiding them all over the house and whining for them. He has several and knows every single one of them by name (yes, he named them). When he's mad or upset he asks to go to his bed to be with them. He not only needs one to sleep with in his mouth but also one for each hand so he can rub them on his face. So yeah. We totally created a monster. The time has definitely come!

I have put it off longer than I should have and I thought the reason was because I knew it was going to be hard on him. But today I'm realizing that in the back of my mind I knew it was going to be hard on me. Not just in the interrupted-sleep kind of way, although I'm sure there will be some of that. And not in the whiny-crabby-toddler sense either, even though I am expecting plenty of that as well. It's just that it's more letting go. Letting go of the final glimpses of Harrison as a baby. At almost 2 1/2 you would think I would be okay with this. But honestly I'm not sure if my sappy heart will ever accept it...even when he's 30. Sigh.

After posting this picture on facebook a few days ago and getting lots of tips and encouragement, I came up with a plan and decided that today is the day. Harrison loves Toy Story. He got all of the movies for his birthday and asks to watch them all the time. He runs around the house pretending to be Woody and talks to all of his Toy Story friends. He always tells me that I'm Jesse, Daddy is Buzz, he's Woody, and Harper is Rex. He named his sister's doll Bullseye. He named his pet bug Bullseye. He named his pet rock Bullseye. You get the point. :)

After debating about which strategy to use, I had an epiphany to tie his love for Toy Story into what I'm calling The Great Pacifier Intervention of 2012. If you are lucky enough to have seen Toy Story 3 once or twice or fifty million times like we have, you know that it is about Andy growing up and going off to college. *Spoiler alert* In the end, even though it's hard to say goodbye to his beloved toys, he donates them to a little girl who can enjoy them like he did. What a nice, nifty little analogy, don't you think? So all morning I've been heavily watering the seed I planted a few weeks ago about how big boys don't need bobos any more. We talked about how just like Andy grew up and gave away his toys, there comes a time when babies grow up into big boys and give away their bobos. We are going to package them all up and stamp and "mail" them to a baby who could get great use out of them just like he did. And to celebrate his graduation to "big boy-hood" I told him I would buy him the greatly coveted and ridiculously overpriced Woody doll that is sitting on the shelf of Target. Yes folks, I'm not above bribery. :)

He's been super excited all day and has agreed that he's ready to say goodbye to his bobos, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I decided to let him have them during his nap and that we would bid them farewell after he wakes up. I don't know what is wrong with me but I could hardly keep it together when I was telling him this was his last time to sleep with them. I guess I never realized how attached I was to them, too.

My baby.