Addison & Isla: Bye Bye Binky!

I had been dreading the day we got rid of Addison's binky for about, oh, 2 and 1/2 years now. Not because I didn't want to deal with naptime boycots or all night cry-fests, but mostly because I knew she LOVED the thing and it gave her comfort. She wasn't a kid who walked around with the binky stuck in her mouth 24/7, but she definitely had it at nap and bedtime, sometimes during a meltdown in a public place (toy aisle of Target) and we were REALLY lenient with letting her have it anytime we went on vacation - the plane, car rides, sleeping in different places in a different time zone - it made it just a tad more bearable.....for us.

Notice I am speaking in the PAST tense above. Yes, the PAST because the binky is no longer with us! It was kind of a snafu how this came to be. We had been meaning to pull the plug (no pun intended) for a few months now, but I'll admit it was me who kept putting it off. DJ would have had Addison go cold turkey when she was 18 months if I had let him, but I talked him into stretching it out to 2, then after we returned from CA in September, then...well, who knows when I would have been game for it. I don't know why, it just didn't seem like it was that big of a deal that she still had a pacifier. Hey, no comments from the peanut gallery! It has saved me many times during those meltdown moments! So last Thursday when we picked Addison up from Brenda's she filled us in on the day's events, of which the most important was that Addison napped without her binky! Apparently she had bitten a hole through it and was mad, asking for another one. Brenda told her matter-of-factly that she didn't have another one, that the broken binky was her only choice if she wanted one. Addison then proceeded to chuck the binky out of her bed, across the room and cried/whimpered for about 20 minutes. Then...silence. She had fallen aspeep, and stayed asleep for her normal 2 hour afternoon nap! We were all so excited by this new development that DJ and I decided to keep the trend going and attempt a non-binky night-time as well.

DJ had to give me a pep talk before we ascended on Addison's room to get her ready for bed. "Be strong" he told me, "Don't give in" he ordered as we headed downstairs with Addison wrapped up in a towel in his arms after her bath. As we were getting her jammies on it started. "Mama, where's my bink?" she asked. Yes, she had taken to calling it "the bink". When your kid comes up with a nickname for the nickname of a pacifier, it's time to let it go. "Your bink is broken honey", I muttered under my breath. "MAMA...my bink!" she demanded. "Sorry honey, no binky, it's gone." At this point she realized the game was over and that there truly was no binky. She looked at DJ and gave it a try. "Daddy? My bink?" "Nope, you're a big girl and the binky is broken." WHHAAAAAAAAAAAA! The crying and whimpering ensued. Addison climbed into my lap and burried her head in my shoulder, mourning the loss of the bink. DJ glared at me with stern eyes as if to say "DO. NOT. CAVE." He could see in my face that I was about to cry too! My poor baby has just lost her binky! Well, in about 30 seconds she collected herself as we distracted her with The Bearenstein Bears books she loves so much, and talk of Santa and Rudolph and Frosty. That was it. The drama was over. There was no more mention of the bink! We weren't sure what to do, but we sure as hell weren't going to say anything that could bring the binky back to the brain, not even that we were proud of her. We read stories and had the usual lovey-dovey good-nights and sleep-tights. Still, no mention of the binky. She slept soundly through the night and hasn't mentioned it, at nap or bedtime, since that night. Whheeew!!! What a relief! We are so proud of her, but aren't going to bring that up just yet. Let's just hope this streak continues.

Our attempt at a Gingerbread House - it's ugly, but hey, she had fun!