Ode to the Binky

BIG NEWS!!!!

Today marks one.entire.week. without a binky. We survived, he survived, the sun continues to rise! I waited to post about it in case we turned back. I was determined not to but then they got colds, of course and I doubted my determination. So here's the scoop: Alex was what some might call completely addicted to his binky. He didn't only like to have one in his mouth but his preference was to have one in each hand. They got him through the troubled times of his youth. ;) They comforted him on rainy days. They nursed him back to health if needed, etc. etc. etc. Truly they were his first love.

The Pediatrician told us at his two year well visit that we needed to get him off the pacifier. As you can see in the pics he was still addicted to his newborn binky which is not orthodontically correct and was causing crowding due to the roof of his mouth conforming to the binky. Anyhoo, we agreed and then decided a few more months (approximately 6 or 9 more if I had anything to do with it) wouldn't change the future of his mouth too much. Fast forward to now and he (after weeks of staying in bed) has been hopping out of bed during nap and at night which leads to us putting him back approximately 3 million times AND then having to grope around for his binky in the dark. Well, Monday night I was exhausted due to the fun day we'd had with Stacey and her boys and the fact that they skipped nap, and we couldn't find the blasted thing. We searched and searched and searched. Mind you we have 3 and not a single one could be found. I decided he was going to go it alone. We'd gotten him down to just using it to sleep MONTHS ago and just dreaded the next step.

So long story slightly shorter, he is binky-less. He isn't napping as well at all (total bummer) and it takes him a while to fall asleep at night because he has nothing with which to "pacify" himself, but he hasn't even asked for it since the 2nd day. He is a trooper and I am a proud Mama! I get a little sad when I think of him being completely done with the thing. I am always reminded of the excitement we felt when he first started using it in the NICU. This meant that he was learning to suck and that he was even closer to leaving there and joining us at home. Oh well I guess they need to grow up sometime. I was beginning to think he'd take it to kindergarten with him. Now they are out of cribs, off binkies and you know what that means...dum, da, da, dum, dum potty training is next.....in about 6 or 9 months from now, that is! :)