Binky Free!

Jake has had a pacifier (binky) ever since day one in the hospital. It was the only way the nurses could keep him a few hours in the nursery at night without waking me to feed him. And I have to say the binky has been priceless. It comforts him, helps him sleep and gave me a break sometimes when I was nursing him. However, as his two year birthday is fast approaching Mike and I have started thinking about when we could take it away without causing permanent trauma to his psyche. We decided to give him a few more months hoping by then he would be a little easier to reason with.

But on Sunday morning, the unthinkable happened. We were down to just one binky. (I swear someday when we move out of this house we will find an entire mountain of lost binkys under the furniture.) We were on our way out the front door to go to church when Mike says "where's the binky?" Madness quickly ensued. We were already running late and began frantically searching the house for the bink because God forbid this child go anywhere without it. Car rides without binky? Unbearable! Child care without binky? Unheard of! Alas, we did not find the binky. We went to church, dropped Jake off at his class, and apologized profusely to his teachers about the inevitable meltdown he was bound to have. But when we picked him up, they said he had done fine without it! Miracle from heaven! I figured those Sunday school teachers must have just been praying really hard for him that morning and that there was NO WAY he would be able to take his afternoon nap without his beloved binky.

So, Mike headed off to the store to buy a new one. In the meantime, I went ahead and put Jake down for his nap because he was exhausted. He did cry for about ten minutes and I could hear him in his crib saying I WANT BINKY! But by the time Mike got home with the new ones, he had fallen asleep. And he stayed asleep without it. Which led us to think, "I wonder if he could go the rest of the day and night without it too?"

We had some friends over for dinner and Jake and their little boy ran each other ragged. By the time we put him down to sleep, he was so exhausted that he only asked for binky a couple times, cried for about five minutes and then fell asleep. WITHOUT A BINKY! He woke up once during the night asking for it but I got him back to sleep without it.

So today at school I told his teachers the whole binky story and asked them to try to not give him one at school if he asked for it. I did put one in his bag as an emergency because I hate to make others suffer. They were totally supportive, let him cry for about ten minutes at nap time before he fell asleep and did not give in to his demands. He had a great day.

As the saga continues to unfold, he is currently on night number two without his good buddy binky. He did cry about 25 minutes tonight but finally settled down. I attribute that to him seeing some of his baby binkies in the pantry and having a meltdown before bedtime. Needless to say those little guys are now in a box and I'm hoping this will just get easier and easier for him.

I felt kind of bad taking it away but he clearly can do without it. And Mike and I had become slaves to the binky. We were always trying to hunt one down before we could leave the house. So now, on the eve of election day, I can truly say that we are all free!