My lil' boy is growing up!

Today was a big day here in the Lopez household. For those of you that don't know, Diego is a thumb-sucker. He has sucked his thumb since he was about 1 month old and has always relied on his thumb to soothe him to sleep. He has one trigger and one trigger only...his "gee-gee" (blanket). He has never put his thumb in his mouth without the gee-gee in his hand, ever. He has had his gee-gee in his crib (and now in his big boy bed) since the day he was born. He has never known a day without his gee-gee.
We've been gradually working on him giving up his thumb-sucking habit and he was at the point where he would only suck his thumb after we left his room in the evening. Ricardo has been very committed to the effort and has prayed with Diego about it and had lots of talks.
Well, today before nap time he asked if we could do our prayer routine (which we usually only do before bedtime). After we read the bible, recited our catechisms and sung our songs he prayed and said this:
"Padre, gracias por este dia. Por favor cuida a mami y a papa y a alexia y a mi. Y porfavor ayudarme no chuparme mi dedo. En nombre de Jesus, Amen." (Father, thank you for this day. Please take care of mami and papi and alexia and me. And please help me not to suck my thumb. In Jesus name, Amen."
I tucked him into his bed and went downstairs. A few minutes later he called me to his room and asked me if his other friends slept with gee-gees and animals (he has a tiger and a kangaroo on his bed also) and I said that not all of them do. And he said, "Mami, ya no necesito mi gee-gee ni mis animales porque ya soy un big boy. Llevalos." (Mami, I don't need my gee-gee and my animals anymore because I'm a big boy now. Take them away.") WHAT!?!?!?!? I could not believe my ears -he was asking me take away the one thing that had been with him for his entire life. I was so happy that he was taking this step...but so sad too! I gently tucked them away in a drawer in his closet and tucked him back into bed.
The big test was at bed time. I was wondering if he would ask to have his gee-gee back. But he didn't. I think this is it. No more gee-gee. No more thumb. This darling boy is growing up!