On Saturday, July16th McKayla said goodbye to her "B's" forever. She only used it at night to sleep or sometimes during a nap so I wasn't in a rush to get rid of them. I finally figured since she's turning 3 soon (OH MY GOSH...I can't believe this!!!) it probably was time to get rid of them. I talked to her about it the week leading up to the day and explained that she was a big girl now so she didn't need a B anymore. She seemed upbeat about it and agreed, but I knew it would be hard when it really was gone. Although not the best for the enviroment (sorry!) I told her we would send them up and away into the sky on balloons. My friend had told me about this technique and said it worked well because they can remember doing it.
So Saturday came around and she packed up all her Bs in her purse then we went to Harmons and got 12 balloons (plus an extra one for her to keep for being such a big girl). We went to a park and I got her and the balloons out of the car. She gave her Bs a kiss goodbye as we got them out of the purse and then I asked her if she'd like to suck on one for a last time and she did. At that moment a sadness came over me...I realized this would be the last time I'd see her do her cute little bunny face movement when she has a B in and rub it on her face (not ever sure why she would do the rub thing, but it was something she did I think as a comfort thing). I also couldn't believe what a strong little girl she was being. She gave me the last B and I tied it with the others onto the balloons. I handed her the balloons and told her to walk over into the clearing and let them go when she was ready. She looked absolutely darling walking over there...a sweet little girl and this huge bunch of colorful balloons. She turned around to me, smiled and then let them go. She waved and called out goodbye Bs as we watched them float away. I have tears in my eyes as I'm writing this because in that moment as I watched her I couldn't help but feel that I was letting go of something so incredbily dear to me...my baby McKayla. She isn't a baby anymore (although she'll always be my baby)...she is a big girl and it happened so fast. She came running back to me and gave me a big hug as I told her how incredibly proud I was of her. We then went to Todd's retaurant for breakfast to celebrate her being a big girl and tell Daddy about what she did. That day when I put her down for her nap she did ask for her B, but I reminded her that we sent her Bs into the sky. She had a tough moment with it, but did go to sleep. That night when I put her to bed she didn't even ask me for it...I was amazed and saddened again...she is a big girl now. She did ask for it the next day when she went down for a nap, but she didn't when going to bed for the night. I know to some people this probably seems like an overly sappy post, but this whole thing was much harder on me than on McKayla. I'm sure every mom out there has had that moment when they realized their baby has grown up and I know she has a whole life ahead of her and isn't that old yet, but she's definitely not a baby anymore and I just hope that I cherished that time as much as I could. We are so incredibly proud of McKayla and everything she has already become. She really does amaze us every day with the new things she learns and she is such a sweet girl. We love our McKayla!!!
