Starting Summer

Summer is here! Preschool's regular schedule is over, which I admit, brings me some relief. There's something about rushing around in the morning to drop her by 8:45, only to go pick her back up at 11:45...

Our schedule is much more open in the summer...time for twirling!


We visited my friend Debbie, who has 2 Goldens...Zoe wanted to go home with us!

Debbie also used to be a hairstylist and gave Devin her "summer cut." She (Devin) was reluctant to cut off her "Rapunzel hair." However, the daily tears and screaming from combing out the tangles were too much for me. Luckily, her friend Alana has shorter hair & Dev was very pleased with the results.

Last week, we (mostly Devin) accomplished something very difficult.

She quit sleeping with her Binkies cold turkey.

I know, know. She just turned 5. We should have just taken it away a loooooong time ago. However, we decided to stick with our "child-led" approach to things like this. It worked so well for Devin with eating, potty-training and sleeping...letting her take the lead and decide when she was ready for what. We restricted the binkie to sleeping only, but up until last week, she really seemed to need it for relaxation and sleep. I could still see her doing the same nursing pattern she did as a newborn. The dentist said the binkies weren't a problem and her Dr. warned taking them away could lead to finger sucking. So, we waited.

And, waited.

And, finally last week at bedtime she said, "I want to quit binkies, but I don't know how."

I told her most people quit one of two ways. Some people like to gradually do something less and less, until they stop. And, some like to just quit and get it over with. She quickly decided to stop all binkies, but keep them in the room that night.

The next morning, they were untouched and she never looked back! We made a HUGE deal of her being such a big girl and making such a good and mature choice. She's growing and learning so much right now...but we're stopping to enjoy summer and slow down a bit. Our trips to the pool are much more fun, as she's much bigger this year and more confident in the water.