Will and I had been plotting the demise of the binky for a while. We were both tired of Vivian's constant need for binky as soon as "bed" was mentioned (binky had been banned for daytime use over a year ago), not to mention the night-time wakings and wailings of "broooowwwwwnnnnnnn binkyyyyyyyyy" because she couldn't find it in her bed.
At some point, Will casually suggested that Vivian should give up binky when she turned three and she totally latched onto that idea, repeating over and over that she was going to give up binky when she turned three. And of course we encouraged that notion!
Could it be that easy?
We were going to visit Virginia for the weekend, leaving the day after her birthday, so thought it may be a good idea to let her have one last night with binky, get rid of it the next day, spend a few days in a different setting and then come back to a binky-free house. But, no, Vivian insisted on her birthday to get rid of binky.
Will had come up with the brilliant idea of burying binky and having a lollipop grow in its place. I took charge of the implementation (we make a good team). A fancy lollipop and magic soil (also known as barley mixed with glitter) were procured in preparation of the big event.
That evening, Vivian collected her binkies from her bed, put them in the plant pot, covered them with magic soil and went to bed. In bed, she suddenly realized what she had done when she asked for binky and we explained that she had planted it and couldn't have it. But, she went to sleep without too much fussing.
Magically, overnight, a lollipop grew!
The next morning, we headed downstairs to see what had happened. Vivian pulled the lollipop out of the pot and also tipped out the magic soil to check if the binky was still there (needless to say it was not).
And that was pretty much that.
We got a couple more requests for binky during the next few days, but they were few and far between, and there were no tears or tantrums when we reminded her that it had grown into a lollipop. Funny thing is, she never ate the lollipop, it's still sitting in a kitchen cabinet...
Let's just hope this is going to work just as well with Annelee, because she is just getting to the point where she can keep a binky in her mouth and it is becoming part of her bed-time routine ...
PS: I'm sure that at this point, you are barely even noticing anymore that she is wearing a princess dress in the first set of pictures and a bathing suit in the second. In November. I've given up trying to enforce any kind of sensible dress code while at home. :)
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