October 1, 2012

The Great Binka Battle of 2012

I remember it like it was yesterday...because it was.  Binka was down!  A gaping hole in her side.  There was no saving binka and now I had to deliver the news to the little girl that was looking forward to napping with binka that afternoon.  This is going to be a hard announcement to make.

Binka-a.k.a- paci, pacifier, binky, pipe, soother...she had been with Daughter through all kinds of good times and bad and now binka would no longer be able to be there for her.

I admit, I am not normally know for my soft qualities but when it comes to my kids...I'm a pansy.  The whole "cry it out" method seems crazy to me.  I can't imagine, as a mom, being able to hear your kids screaming and not immediately wanting to soothe them.  I mean, obviously there are times that their screaming goes ignored or results in me turning on them and saying something along the lines of, "QUIT IT NOW OR I WILL LEAVE EVERYTHING IN THIS CART AND DRAG YOU OUT BY YOUR EAR!"  But when they're crying cuz they need soothing?  I'm right there to rock them, cuddle them or sing to them.  Because of this, I have let Daughter hold on to binka WAY TOO LONG!

When she was born, in the hospital they gave her a Gumdrop binka.  Daughter took to that binka like a long lost friend.  We had to order them from an online store cuz nowhere around here sold them and that was the only binka she would use.  That was still WAY easier than I figured taking it away would be.  Daughter was never spotted without it from birth til about two years old.  Around that time we stripped it from daytime use unless she was in the truck.  Then it was just easier to drive without her crying/screaming in the backseat...don't want a distracted driver do you?  Slowly we got rid of it in the truck making her go short trips without it and going for longer and longer trips without it.  We got it down to just at nap-time and bedtime and we were planning on going to just bedtime soon and then down to no binka.

But then, binka got wounded and the wound was big with pieces falling off (HELLO CHOKING HAZARD!).  We had to let binka go earlier than planned.

I was reading nap-time stories to Daughter yesterday and she had binka in her mouth.  She kept coughing and finally she was covering her mouth with one hand and holding binka in the other.  I notice this laceration in binka with pieces of the silicone hanging off in little shards.  I grabbed it and told Daughter that binka had a big hole in it and she was choking on pieces of it.  I proceeded to tell her that binka was broke and she couldn't use it anymore.  OH THE CRYING!  I cuddled her and sang to her and rocked her and Him let her say goodbye to binka and I laid in bed with her til she turned to me and said, "Mama, go downstairs now.  I wanna go to sleep and I can't with you in my bed."

Instant self high-five!  This was WAY easier than I had imagined it would be!

You should never self high-five until you know that you actually deserve it.  Hit the bottom of the stairs and the screaming starts, "I NEED BINKA!  MAMA I NEED YOU TO GET ME A NEW BINKA! I WON'T GO TO SLEEP WITHOUT BINKA!"  I had such a hard time staying downstairs...I could hear her WITHOUT the monitor and I was slowly having my heart broken.  I kid you not, I almost went to the store and bought a new one!  And then, there was silence.  No self high-five yet...I learned.

After about fifteen minutes of silence I sneak up to her room and sure enough, Daughter was passed out for the first time ever WITHOUT binka!

WE WON THE BATTLE!  I'm still hoping we win the war!

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