Bye-Bye B!

Our little boy is growing up. Too fast.

The current mission...operation bye-bye B! For those of you who don't know, Jacob affectionately refers to his soft, cuddly blankie as "B." We have a full size B for in the bed, a place mat size B for the car (also referred to as the road rag), and a teeny tiny little potholder sized B (for back up when all other B's are being laundered). Jacob LOVES his B. Adores it.

A couple months ago we started the mission of weaning Jacob off his blankie. He only sucks his thumb if he has his B in his hands and well, let's be honest, he is getting bigger and seeing a big toddler with a blankie and thumb in their mouth is about as attractive as a 3 year old with a pacifier stuck in their face. He will be 1 and a half this month. It is time. The longer we wait, the harder it will be.

So the mission began, rather smoothly, I might add, with the B being restricted at home to the bed only. He still would get free reign of B in the car, at Miss Donna's, and at church. We have survived this rather well. In fact, in the morning I let him snuggle the B while I change his diaper and then after the diaper change is over, we say BYE-BYE B together and toss it into the crib. He is generally fine all day without it unless we get a BIG boo boo in which case the B may possibly come out of the bed only for boo boo mending purposes.

Next, the mission moved to the car. This has not been as successful a mission, but darn it, I am going to stick to my guns. How heart breaking can it be though, to drive down the road and hear my sweet boy crying in the backseat and say, "B! B! B! Mama! B!" So pitiful. But we will stick to it (for the most part. I mean, this is a toddler, and I am a human mama and sometimes, it is just easier for mama to give the toddler the B! Bad mama!!).

Now, the mission has progressed to Miss Donna's. Miss Donna is so sweet and always so ready to embrace our new missions (dropping bottles, dropping naps, changing eating habits, etc). Miss Donna greeted me this morning with me mouthing over Jacob's head, "we are trying to take away the B! Out of sight, out of mind!" According to Miss Donna, the day went well up until Mr. Jacob got up from his nap and thought he should keep his B. Miss Donna, being the sweet, diligent caregiver that she is, told Jacob his mommy said no B. Jacob wasn't too pleased with his Miss Donna. He got to watch Veggie Tales instead.

So this brings us to what will ultimately be the climax of this mission. CHURCH. Ummmmmm...I am not sure how that one is going to go seeing as how Jacob currently wraps his arms and legs firmly around us and starts crying hysterically the moment we enter the lobby area of his nursery class at church and the poor nursery ladies generally have to physically remove him from our bodies. Yeah. I think we'll stick with continuing to perfect bye-bye B at home, in the car, and at Miss Donna's for a little while longer before we make an attempt at this at church.

Once we master church, phase one of project bye-bye B will be complete. Phase 2 will be at a much later date at which time we will try to get the B out of the bed and gone for good. And then poor mommy will be left with nothing but sweet memories and a soft, cuddly crocheted B tucked away in a cardboard box. Oh yes, I will keep them. All three of them.

Be still my heart. My sweet Jacob, I wish you didn't have to say bye-bye B because in essence, your poor mommy has to say bye-bye sweet little baby boy. But I look ahead with anticipation of the big boy you will become.

Bye-bye B...........