B-day or D-day?

So, Wednesday was Ian's 5th birthday. We started the day with Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, with candles of course, and then he opened his presents.

We had to wait for Jenna to wake up from her morning nap before we could go to the zoo so Ian spent that time playing with some his toys.

First, he watched part of one of his new Star Wars DVDs.

Then he went outside to play with his new "Scoop Ball" set w/daddy.

After that they had to kill some more time - Jenna was taking a super long nap - so Trevor took him to Jiffy Lube to get the oil changed. Not terribly fun, but it needed to be done.

After they got home and we got Jenna fed we headed out to the National Zoo. This is where B-day turns into D-day. A few months ago Ian announced out of the blue that when he turned 5 he was going to throw away his "pants" (aka blankie). So, we decided we would go along with it and really talk it up big. This was our chance to get rid of the stinky, shredded "pants". This was also our way of getting Ian to stop sucking his thumb. You see, he only sucks his thumb if he has his "pants". So we let him pick where he wanted to go to throw away his pants and he chose the zoo (I was secretly hoping that he would pick the zoo!) I was pretty nervous that it wouldn't go well. The kid's been sucking his thumb since he was 6 weeks old, he's had the "pants" since he was 16 months old. The kid has an addiction. Heck - mommy has an addiction. It's pretty reassuring to know that he had that crutch to help him sleep and comfort him when he needed it. But, it's a new era. It's time to move on. Here's the last picture of Ian with his "pants":

And here he is throwing his pants in the trash:

As he was doing it I was getting all choked up and almost cried. He was completely no-nonsense about the whole process. When we were parking the car he asked if he could have a plastic bag to put them in. When I asked him why he said he didn't want them to get dirty in the trash. I reminded him that once he threw them away they would be gone forever and he said "yeah I know, I just don't want them to get dirty". It was almost like he was giving them a proper burial. They have been a good friend to him over the last few years. So we walked into the zoo, asked him which trash can he wanted to put them in, he asked to suck his thumb one more time, he put them in the bag, I tied the bag and he put them in the trash. No looking back - no crying over them - he just wanted to go see the animals. I was in total shock.

The entire day went well. He didn't mention them at all while we were at the zoo, probably because he was so distracted. On the way home it hit him a little. He said "what am I going to sniff when I go to bed?" (Remember when I told you about his love/hate relationship with smell?) As it got closer to bedtime it started to sink in even more - especially after his bath was over and he got his PJ's on.

We had our first major problem when it was time to get into bed. He started crying and wanted to take a stuffed animal to bed "for something to hold onto". The first thought that popped into my head were "oh, no - we are not trading one thing for another". So I really held my ground and refused to let him take a stuffed animal to bed. I hated leaving him in there sobbing like that. When I came out to the living room Trevor told me a story about when he was a kid. He said that he had a blanket that he was addicted to that his parents eventually took away. When they took it away they let him take a toy to bed. We decided that we would let him take a stuffed animal to bed with him as long as it was a different one each time and he had to put it away when he got out of bed. Hopefully, this will keep him from getting attached to one in particular. I also told him that he's not allowed to suck his thumb and he is A-Ok with that. It was too cute to see him with his arms wrapped around the stuffed dog as we left him for the night. He's never cared for stuffed animals at all so it's interesting to me that he feels he needs one for comfort.

Today he's done extremely well. He hasn't mentioned his pants or sucking his thumb at all. Although he has been wandering around the house with a forlorn look in his eyes - like he doesn't quite know what to do with himself. It's pretty strange not seeing him with his thumb in his mouth and the "pants" hanging down. On our way home from the zoo I told Trevor - "can you imagine: no more searching for the "pants", looking in every nook and cranny, no more telling him to put his "pants" on the bed when he's not sleeping... Woo-hoo!!