Life without Binky

So, this plane ride/trip was momentous in that it was the milestone past which my younger daughter would no longer have her pacifier (it's hard to give up the binky when you know it will silence your child in the presence of a captive audience in the near future). Needless to say, we're back from our trip. And the Binky Fairy has claimed her booty.

Both of my daughters have been pacifier girls. The whole pacifier thing hearkens back to nature versus nurture (are some babies born to be suckers??), and I will admit, I may have trumped nature in that I encouraged the pacifier...easy pacifying, easy taking away--unlike thumbs (and I should know, former thumbsucker). So I've had two addicts. We cut Daughter #1 off at 2 years old. I have vague memories of the pain. Daughter #2 made us realize we needed to act sooner, Or Else. You see, she was becoming a complicated Binky Dependent. Not only does this daughter enjoy sucking on a pacifier, she wants to hold one. Or two. Or two or three per hand. I am pretty sure her max is six binkies--one in mouth and two and three in hands. She went from having them only at nap and nighttime to wanting them Always. And frankly, I like hearing her talk. Binkies curb talking. It was time to end Binkydom.

Last night was The First Night of No Binky. We snipped the ends off all the binkies we could find. I thought, if the pacifier thing for her is partially tactile, I don't have a problem with her carrying around emasculated pacifiers... Well, nothing doing. She recoiled in horror when we presented the first snipped Binky. They were offensive to her. Not functional; not meaningful.

Hence, bedtime was hard. She cried and sobbed and begged for...something. I told my husband I was ready to cave (I knew where one pristine Binky was hidden...) She eventually fell asleep. And the miracle is that she slept Through the Night* (*Through the Night=until 4:45 AM). She accepted that her Binkies were Broken at that early hour, and snuggled in with me in our bed.

At breakfast, I told her sister, "We should really be proud. She slept through the night with NO BINKY." Daughter #2 heard that key word and looked up from her toast, reporting, rather analytically: "Binky...broken."

She came home from preschool today unscathed. After searching fruitlessly through her cubby at naptime to no avail, she accepted her Elmo jacket and shoes as consolation prizes. And slept. I can tell what happened at school, what the teachers said, because she has shared, rather impromptu, "Binky...broken. Sorry! So sad..."

Oh, kids. They're really amazing. And I am proud of my little noogie.