Hello, Balance Bike!

Annabelle loved her pacifier. Or as she calls it her "pigger". (That's what we called Samuel's pacifier because he was a pig, and it just stuck with hers too). After she was only allowed to have it in her crib, she would often ask to go down for naps and bed just so she could have it. We took it from her for awhile, but while she was potty training decided it was too much all at once so she was able to have it for a reward when she didn't have any accidents. It totally worked. But, it certainly wasn't encouraging her to get rid of it.

We always told her that when she was ready to give it up she could have a balance bike. She desperately wanted one, but just wasn't quite ready. We didn't see the need to force it. But, seeing Joseph and Samuel constantly with their bikes was the ticket. I asked her one night to start thinking about when she would like to get her bike and that I would ask her soon if she's ready. She seemed interested. So, the next day I asked and she said she was! I ripped her pigger, gave it to her, she stood in her crib, threw it in the trash and that was that. She woke up the next morning, asked to see it in the trash, and then never looked back. Haha.

What a hoot! She's quite thrilled to have entered this new phase of her life. She has her own princess helmet, but I think Samuel's helmet was close by so we let her take a spin with that on. Just in time for our camping trip!