Big News!!!

A couple days ago Keagan told us at dinner that he wanted to trade in his binkies for a big present. This is something his friend, Harry, had done and he was told about it weeks ago, but it never really came up again, so his statement to us was totally out of the blue. Keagan has 5 binkies (which have only been used a night for a long time now). Two orange ones that just stay at the side of his bed and he never uses, two blue ones he holds one in each hand, and one pink one that is in his mouth. As we were talking about this "deal" he decided maybe he could get a big prize for just turning in the orange ones. Good try, buddy, but no. So this first night we told him let's try to sleep without the blue binkies and see how it goes, so we put them in a box for the night. The next day he told me he wants to put all his binkies in the box and go get a big present. After school, off we went to a nice toy store in Concord. At first, it didn't look like anything was going to be special enough for this gift, until he turned a corner to the Lego section and saw a huge box containing a Duplo (the bigger legos for toddlers) train set. He was sold! I was trying not to baulk at the huge price tag. Sigh. But what could I do? He had no concept of the expense, he just saw the train and was psyched, plus if this worked, it was totally worth the price tag.
We went home, put Torin down for a nap, and proceeded to clean up and re-arrange his room to fit the train set on the floor. After getting it together, he played with it for TWO HOURS. When Erik got home from work he was introduced to it right away, of course.
That night, we put Keagan to bed and the word "binky" did not even come up. Keagan was fighting a bit when it was time to brush his teeth- the start of the bedtime routine- but nothing major. Then, at 11pm he woke up crying and Erik went in and it appeared he was upset because his nose was all blocked up and stuffy, which does upset him when he has a cold, but after a few minutes of trying to settle him he wasn't really calming down and I decided to go in to help. He settled almost immediately with me, we sang a song and snuggled for a few minutes, and then he said "ok, now it's time to sleep" and I left. I have a feeling, there was more to the outburst than just his stuffy nose, but again, no mention of the b-word.
It's been a few nights now, and he's not once asked or even really talked about his binky. He is fighting going to bed a little bit, right at the end, after reading books, it's like he doesn't know how to lay down without first putting a binky in his mouth, but Erik (who is normally the one who puts him down, while I nurse Torin and put him to bed) is working with him and helping him through the transition.
We are both so proud of him though, and it appears, the Binky is gone. For good.

In Torin news- he has 7 teeth now, 4 in the front on the bottom, three in the front on top, and I think the 4th on the top is starting to come. He actually has a couple of words!! Which I find shocking, and doubting that it's actually speech that's happening, but it really does seem to be. The first is "Mama" :) How psyched am I that that's his first word :) Of course he said the baby talk version "ma ma ma ma" a lot before it actually became a word. But now, I will leave the room and he'll call "Mama"! at me. Or he'll be stuck, or unhappy and suddenly look at me and say "Mama!" The next one is "Uh-oh" when he drops something, although it's more like "Uh Uh". Really cute. We also think he's starting to say "Da da" and actually mean "Dada" and not just the syllables. Erik is happy about that :)
He is also SUPER CLOSE to crawling and desperate to do so. He wants to be mobile soooo badly. I'll get video once it happens.