Chickie is born.
01.31.06
We give her a binky (pacifier). I sing its praises because she likes to overeat and then projectile vomit (lovely, I know), and the binky helps satisfy her sucking needs without giving her an overly-full tummy.
08.17.07
Chickie, at 19 months old, says bye bye to her binkies and is rewarded with an Elmo DVD. I am immensely relieved as by this time I feel the binky has been running my life. From months of having to replace it in her mouth while sleeping (before she could put it in herself), to emergency "binky runs" to Target when we couldn't find any, to stretching my arm to twice its normal length trying to replace it in her mouth with her sitting behind me in the car, to having a permanent binky-shaped indentation in the pocket of my jeans, to just being sick of seeing a toddler's mouth constantly invisible behind a plastic device...I was sick of the things and SO glad to be rid of them.
03.29.08
Zoodle is born.
04.01.08
Zoodle is crying. The Engineer asks, "When do we give him a binky?" I reply that I'm not sure if I ever want to use one--"We'll see." (Mommy code for "Hopefully never.")
04.03.08
The Engineer suggests the binky when Zoodle is crying. I say I don't want to use it.
04.04.08, 04.08.08, etc.
Repeat of 04.03.08
04.12.08
I tell The Engineer I think it would be okay to use the binky while Zoodle is swaddled, since he can't get to his hands to suck on them. But that's IT, no other times. Zoodle easily starts sucking on the binky. In future weeks I occasionally realize The Engineer has "sneaked" Zoodle a binky when I've been out of the house, but I figure if the guy is being a good enough dad to watch his son, I need to let him bend the rules a bit.
06.11.08
Chickie is sick, and I give Zoodle the binky in the car, not willing to deal with a sick toddler and a crying baby.
06.16.08
Zoodle is sick, and I tell him since he doesn't feel well he can have the binky as much as he wants, all day long. I clip it to his shirt.
06.18.08
I give Zoodle the binky on our four hour trek to and from south Austin and when it keeps the in-car crying to a minimum, I consider sending flowers to the genius who invented these things.
06.20.08
I type a blog with a content, binky-sucking baby on my lap. Then I sign the contract to sell my soul, once again, to the binky manufacturers. Sigh....
8 comments:
That made me laugh! (Sorry.)
If it makes you feel any better: it was pretty easy to wean Molly off of hers a couple of months ago, BUT she still gets it to sleep. I just couldn't do it whole-hog! However, it is now associated in her brain with a sleep routine, and she falls asleep as soon as we put it in her mouth. (Really, it's like magic. Today we had a child care emergency and she took a nap in her stroller, during a semi-loud meeting of 35 faculty and staff.) Maybe I've sold my soul to Playtex (we use the Nuks), but I honestly don't care if she has it at sleep time till she's 18, as long as it makes our lives easier. :)
You are LUCKY! We tried to "partially wean" Ana off hers, giving it to her at sleep time and in the car. But she was asking for it all the time and throwing tantrums when she didn't get it. So when I took it away at 19 months I knew I just couldn't deal with "part-time" binky-ing anymore, since she wanted it "full-time". Hopefully since Eli is more laid back in general I can gradually wean him like you have Molly, and he'll respond well.
My kids all used one for about 4 months. Well, Jenna didn't care for it much and tended to gag at first. Rylee just sort of let go of it once we started not giving it to her so often (around 6 months old). I agree with Becki on sleep association. Once you start working on sleeping through the night, just try associating sleep with things you want to keep. Asa found his thumb around 4 months so the paci was gone. He only sucked his thumb for about 4-6 months then just didn't do it anymore.
If Eli's happy, good for your family! and, hey, Ana isn't still using it. way to go!
Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad! I know we're lucky with her laid-back personality. However, the car, and the stroller/train commute she and I take every day, were BIG paci times for Molly. We had an awful week when I took the paci off of her. The car and the train were both MISERABLE, lots of screaming. I felt so bad for the other passengers. But I don't think we could've given it to her in any of her waking hours, and still had the weaning work out.
I was lucky - just had thumb suckers - always handy and available.
Of course, trying to get kindergarteners to give up their ever-present thumb at night when they didn't realize they had it in their mouth was a challenge! But I don't think either of you suck it now, so it all worked out! Love, mom
Oh what a cute post! Honey - no worries, ok? If you got Ana off hers, you'll get Eli off his. Think of it this way - it's making HIM happy. It's making your life better. I have yet to see a normal adult walking around with a binky. Granted, I used one in college for a while, but that was purely for the "aren't I just wacky?!" factor. You're doin' fine, girl.
Oh I have to laugh. My word verification is "dadonk"! I think that will be my new exclamation. DaDONK!
That is so funny! I bought every binky in every store for my kids and they would NEVER use it! I am totally jealous, and yet relieved at the same time. Humm...which is better? A binky you can take away or a daughter who STILL sucks her fingers at 3??? Not sure? At least we never had to hunt for her fingers or make Target runs for more fingers because the others were lost. hahahaha Everything has its pros and cons.
You're so funny!
I feel ya on this one, Beth! No worries though. It all works out in the end! If Beth would take a paci, she would have one attached to her as we speak! Instead, she sucks on her bottom lip. Goofy girl!
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