More Growing Pains

Davey has loved his "white bankey" from the time he was baby. It is just a simple thermal baby blanket that usually comes in a two pack, but it became his favorite above all the others. He wanted it for every nap and bed time. He'd grab it, sniff it, and insert his thumb in his mouth. If it was ever misplaced we used to get away with throwing in a pair of Trav's old thermals into the crib, but as he got older and more discerning he'd toss those right back out at us. There have been several times bankey has been "lost", and I seriously have turned the house inside out for hours until I have found it. It's been left at coffeehouses, pizza places, outside in the yard, etc. We've been incredibly lucky to keep him all of these almost five years... And yes, bankey's a boy.
So white bankey is no longer white anymore, he's a dirty gray, completely worn thin, torn and mended several times over by my mom. Over the last two years, he's been restricted to only Davey's bed. Davey can go visit and get a fix if he needs, but he can't come out. Over the last six months or so, Davey will periodically declare "I'm too big for white bankey! I want to be a big boy!" and put him away for a few hours only to ask for him again at the next bed time. We'd let Davey have bankey forever, except he still sucks his thumb every time he holds him, and it's only when he holds him. Davey has a bit of a lisp, so we feel like the time has come to probably wean him off of bankey completely. He's almost five, we don't want him to have a bankey thumb sucking habit at twelve.
Davey's down to about three bankey "fixes" a day. In the morning for a few minutes while he wakes up, right when he gets home from school for a bit, and then again at bed time. Trav got him to fall asleep last night without it, but he woke up crying this morning desperate for bankey. I gave it back to him. I feel like for something he's been attached to his whole life, he should be gently weaned from it in bits and pieces. I don't think he's ready for going cold turkey with it, and here's what it really comes down to. Neither am I.
It's a true challene for me in letting go of this huge marker of Davey's babyhood. I know Davey's big, he walks himself to his class, he's this crazy aggressive player on the soccer field, but I love that there's still this soft, cuddly, baby in him. It's hard for me to watch that fade more with each day. There's much to process in that, a lot of sweetness, a lot of craziness. I can't quit this season of our lives cold turkey, I need to be gently and slowly eased into it. I try to make my mantra in life be, "It's not about you" (to myself of course). So I know ultimately, helping Davey move on from white bankey is not about me, but it still sort of is. So Davey and I are in this together, and now Trav has two babies to contend with. Sorry babe.