Day 41- the end of binkies

We have been telling our almost 3 year old for a year now that he is too old for binkies and he needed to be done with them. We got him down to only night time use, then we got lazy. Him using his bink meant he was quiet, and soothing himself to sleep. We didn't have to deal with tears, or fighting, it was just easy. But as he nears his third birthday, we knew it was time. We had been talking about a strategy for weeks on how to accomplish the task... The plan? Have little man gather all of his binkies, take him to the toy store, and tell him can pick out any toy he wants... We were desperate, we would have really bought any toy. So today, as I got ready to do my weekly outing of grocery shopping/errands alone, (my ONLY alone time all week) my husband says to little man "hey! Why don't you go get all your binkies, and you can buy a new toy with it! You can go shopping with mommy!"... And just like that... I lost my alone time... But this time I was Ok with it if it meant that little man would willingly give up his bink.
So we gather all of the binkies, get him dressed and ready to go, and head to the store. The whole way to the store he was chatting up a storm about how he was going to get a cool dinosaur toy, and give the lady his binks. We go and find the perfect toy, head to the register... Moment of truth... Little man willingly hands over his pacifiers! Phew! The cashier was so awesome about the whole thing, she made a huge deal about it and told little man she was so proud of him, as did the other customers in line. Seeing little mans face light up with a huge smile was worth missing my alone time this week.
After the toy store, we headed to the grocery store, and little man clutched into his new dinosaur the whole time, so proud of himself for being a big boy. When we got home little man tried to tell my husband that he could have a glass of wine because he was big now, we told him he had to be 21, and he said "I am 3... That's big enough!", then when we asked him if he was ready for bed he said, "no, im big now, I'm not going to sleep anymore." haha
I guess we will see how tonight goes, he was a little upset at bed time that he did not have his binkies, but he seemed to understand that he left them at the store. Now I will wish, hope, and pray that we all sleep tonight!