i'm a big girl, not a baby

queue momma's tears. last night after her bath, em decided she had to try on some new shoes. they are too big for her, and i didn't want her to get attached to them and want to wear them everywhere, so i told her no. i explained they were too big and that she'd have to wait. her response, "i'm a big girl, not a baby." so i went with my usual line of, "big girls don't use chee choos." i told her that she still has one, so surely she couldn't be a big girl yet. i asked her if she was going to throw her chee choos away in the basura. she thought for just a second and then said, "uh huh." and off she went. she put her 2 chee choos in the oven of her play kitchen and told me she'd "just put them in here."

me: but that's not the basura.
em: i just put them in here. (and she hesitantly walked away).
me: em, that's your oven, not the basura. are you going to throw them away in the basura?
em: (looking at me a little skeptically, walked over to the oven, pulled out her chee choos, and went into her bathroom). (we hear a plunk, and she comes out empty handed). i'm a big girl.

i had no choice but let her open her new shoes and wear them for the rest of the night. a bit later, i read her some books and when i told her it was her last book, she whimpered a little bit. usually, she wants her chee choo during story time and of course for her crib. but all i got was a few whimpers.

so in her crib she went. she started digging around under her pillows until she found her little piggy. this seemed to excite her a tad, but she was still whimpering. the rest of the routine was completed and i told her i was so proud of her, careful not to mention her beloved chee choos.

she never asked for them. and didn't wake up in the middle of the night for them either. and in the morning, she didn't look for them before getting out of her crib. in fact, she gave me a high five when i told her again how proud i was of her and that she was such a big girl.
she's been in the car a few times today and hasn't asked for them. she told her nanny that she threw away her green chee choos (not her pink ones). but no tears.

i cannot believe it. i know she's too old for pacis, but that was the last bit of "baby" left of her. (okay, so that and the fact that she's in diapers still and has no desire whatsoever to sit on a toilet to go potty). i seriously cried last night as i thought about how great she handled it. as much as i've been planning in my head how to rid her of the paci, i wasn't prepared for her to not put up a fight. good thing she still says she's "mommy's baby girl." otherwise, i'd be a huge mess!

obviously this isn't her bathroom, but i didn't want to wake her by turning on the light in her room so i moved the trash to the hallway.

update: it's monday and she hasn't asked for her chee choos since! twice, however, she did tell me we needed to go to the store to buy some new ones. we went to the store (not to buy new ones), and it never came up. this morning was the first time i was brave enough to ask her about throwing away her chee choos. she seemed okay with it and told me she was a big girl!