Bye-bye, Binky.

Let me just start by saying that, yes, my children are binkie-lovers. Pyper took to hers like a natural and it quickly became her best friend. You know, they warn you not to introduce a pacifier too early if you're nursing because it could cause problems, blah blah blah. I think we waited 3 weeks then bought one the night we wanted to go on a date and needed to leave Pyper with a sitter. It was a lifesaver. Our friend Bryan dubbed it "the Precious". Hakan resisted it at first and never was all that fond of it but I basically forced it on him until he got to like it. He's really only used it to fall asleep. About a month ago, however, he started wanting it more and more and was asking for it pretty often. This concerned me so I started plotting to take it away. He turns 2 next month for crying out loud and a pet peeve of mine is seeing a kid who can speak in full sentences, walking around with a pacifier hanging out of his mouth. (Not that Hakan is saying full sentences yet, but he's close.) But that's just me. Anyway, right when I was ready to pounce last week, he got this really high fever that lasted for a couple of days and I just couldn't bring myself to do it until I knew he was feeling better. So on Monday, naptime rolled around and I did it-- I murdered the binky.

This was our method when we broke Pyper of her binky fixation and it's worked like a charm both times. Monday, when I laid him down for a nap and he asked for his bink, I casually produced the decapitated one that I just so happened to have in my pocket and handed it to him. He didn't even look at before he tried to pop it in his mouth, but of course soon realized there was nothing there. He looked at it very puzzled and turned to me and said, "Broken." I did my best to look bewildered and said, "Yep, broken. Binky's broken." We had this exchange several times and eventually he accepted the fact that he just wasn't getting a binky for nap. He never got upset or angry, and even though we probably have half a dozen binkies laying around here, he never even asked for another one. I know he had a harder time falling asleep than usual because I heard him in his room playing for a while, and when he woke up he was sitting in the middle of the room with carpet marks on his cheek and knees. I guess he conked out on the floor, but he went without his binky! He's done so well these past couple of days and I'm just relieved it wasn't a huge battle.

...Okay, literally in the middle of writing this I heard Hakan start crying in bed. He'd been asleep for a couple of hours and sounded pretty upset. I went in to comfort him and he just kept crying, so Aaron came in and laid down with him. As I was walking out of the room I heard Hakan whimper, "Binky," all pathetic and sad like. Poor little guy. I'm sure he'll be fine, but now I feel bad... :,(