NO MORE BINKY!

It has been our constant companion, sanity savior, and, yes, parental crutch, for the past 20 months but this week we said goodbye to binky.

It hasn't been easy but it hasn't been as hard as we feared, either. (Although, I say this NOW while she's not sick and we're not about to embark upon a 10 hour flight to England without a plug. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities in our future to miss it.)

The day after Christmas, we wrapped all our binkies up in tissue paper, put them in a Christmas gift bag and dropped them off for Santa to give to all the "poor babies." (In fact, my husband jumped out of the car and ran into his office, where he deposited them in the bin. But these are details Daisy can hate me for in therapy, after she reads this blog some day.) We blew kisses at the binkies and we waved goodbye.

And then, when we realized they were definitely gone, the screaming began.

Now let me be clear, in case I have not before in previous posts: my daughter does not wimper, whine, or sob, she SCREAMS. Full pelt, with every ounce of oxygen in her lungs. She is the Opera Singer of criers.

One of these days I swear I am going to get one of those decibel meters and prove in cold, hard numbers, just how loud she is.

When she is crying/screaming it is IMPOSSIBLE to think, let alone have any kind of conversation over the din. Even turning up the music doesn't work since we had to turn it up so loud we even deafened ourselves.

And so we thought the biggest issue would be car rides. Missy has never much liked being strapped in anywhere, no matter what her age, and without binky, car rides have ALWAYS been an issue. After taking some tips from other moms who have "been there", however, we've been able to mostly crack the in-car-audio. The solution, by the way, is cookies or Goldfish in a snack cup. (Judge all you want. I can't say enough how many "musn'ts" and "will nevers" I've had to be flexible on since I became a mother.)

As it turns out, naps have been the biggest fight. Although Daisy has always slept through the night without her binky (we let her have it at storytime and them whip it away as we put her down - sneaky!) she has always had it for naps. It's just one of those things where trying to stop an over-active toddler dead in her tracks bang in the middle of the day, requires an all-out effort. The kid likes her sleep for sure and getting her down WITH binky has been a breeze for some time. So I think we completely overlooked what that process might look like post-binky. (Probably for good reason.)

Day one: No nap at all. Absolutely not. She screamed until she almost choked and then sat in her crib with a few books until she got bored and started screaming again.

Day two: 30 minutes, thanks to much persistence. Again, much screaming, which I was purposefully not around for (a conveniently timed lunch break.)

Day three: One hour, thanks to "The Baby Whisperer", aka: my mother. Although I hear it was an effort. And if my mother admits it was an effort, it means it was in fact akin to climbing Everest without an oxygen tank.

Day four (today): One hour again but less fighting beforehand. Bed was harder, though - she wouldn't stop talking to me as I read stories! Eventually I just put her down, still jabbering, and lo-and-behold, the child put head to pillow and went out like a light. Go figure. Who can figure these kids out?

However, our nanny thinks that "Mummy" is the new binky, since it seems that the loss of the colored rubbery thing has coincided with a sudden mummy fixation. Not that Daisy hasn't been a mummy fan before but it's reached new levels. When hurt, when tired, when away from me, when frustrated... everyone is now subjected to the sound of my name over-and-over-and-over again.

Last night, she even whined for me over her Daddy and her Nanny, the latter of which is a first. Of course, when she's with me all I ever hear about is Nanny, Grandad, and Daddy!

It's likely just" a stage" and I'm ok with it so far but I don't do well with clingy, so we'll see.

Here are some pre-bedtime pics from this evening, as Daisy reviews her collection of books and picks which ones she wants me to read (although she frequently changes her mind half way through anyway!)

From the non-binky household, thanks for stopping by!

Daisy's Mum

=x=