Bye-Bye Bah

Millie is getting to be a big girl.  And it's time for her to give up some of the things that Mommy has let her hold on to.  Millie has been our baby for nearly 3 years now and it has been hard for me to tell her to give up her Bah, or pacifier as most people call it.  She's so cute with it and I know it gives her comfort. 

But it's time to say bye-bye.

Last night Millie slept without her Bah for the first time ever.  She slept through the night okay, but the sadness of being denied her Bah was difficult for about 20 minutes before she fell asleep.  The look on her face was priceless and my heart broke as I wondered if she thought I had kidnapped her best friend.  It was the look of true sadness.  I tried to hug her and comfort her, but eventually she just wore herself out.

Tonight she asked me again where her Bah was.  Actually, she said about two or three sentences worth of words but I couldn't understand any of them.  I just kept reminding her that we said bye-bye to her Bah.  Then I wondered if I should let her literally say good-bye to her Bah. 

We went downstairs and I grabbed her Bahs (three of them) from the top of the fridge (the only place I can keep them where she can't reach them) and told her we needed to say bye-bye and throw them in the trash.

I instantly had the notion that I was being too harsh.  Was it mean to have her throw them away rather than some cute "give them to babies" sort of thing?  Millie was crying and said she didn't want to say bye-bye.  I was dying inside and asked Josh what we should do, especially since she was making that face again!  I held her in my arms with the other kids standing around watching Millie struggle with becoming a big girl and Josh telling me of a book about giving pacifiers to baby horses. 

I turned to him and asked if he thought I should let her have her Bah until I could get a copy of this book when suddenly Millie threw both of her arms up the air and yelled, "OK!  I say bye-bye to Bah!!!"  The five of us stared at each other in shock as I held out the Bahs to Millie.  She took them one at a time and threw them into the garbage can.  When she finished she yelled, "I did it!!" and the rest of us cheered with her. 

We all began laughing at the sudden turn of events.  I began crying (shock) and Matt began laughing so hard he cried too (actual shock)!  He told me that he's never been prouder of his little sister than at that moment.  Millie went upstairs and on her way she pointed to the top of the fridge and announced, "All gone!" 

Yep.  they're all gone.  Our baby is becoming a Big Girl!

Border Woes

In case you didn't know, when you travel along the roads in the southwestern US, and you are close to the Mexican border, you pass through Border Patrol Checkpoint Stations. 

It doesn't matter that I'm a legal US citizen.  Nor does it matter than all of the people in my vehicle are US citizens.  I get a bit intimidated by the whole thing.  There are working dogs, men with guns, the whole sha-bang.
So when we go to visit my parents and have to stop at one of these checkpoint areas, I automatically sit up straighter, use words like "yes sir," and hope I don't say something stupid.  Because they don't check my I.D.  They ask me questions.





Today we visited Mom and Dad for Labor Day.  And on the way home tonight I was asked, "What nationality are you?"  I immediately replied with my answer, but couldn't help but wonder as we drove away, What if I'd gotten mixed up and nervous and said the wrong thing? 




So now that all of these thoughts have come into my head, next time I visit my parents I'm going to be thinking extra hard about what my answers should be.  Not because I'm lying, but because I don't want to say the wrong thing!