Bye Bye Binkie, So Long Soother, Operation Dummy Drop...

The time had come. And frankly, it had gone.We had gotten to the point of Teagan sobbing for her binky when she was hurt, because "my binky makes me feel better." Perhaps it should be her parents that make her feel better over a germy old piece of plastic. So we finally did it. In our defense, there always seemed to be a valid reason to let her continue to have it - an upcoming flight, a long trip, a new baby - but with little on the horizon, we bit the proverbial bullet.

We had waited long enough that we could reason with her...a bit. And told her that she could trade her binky in for a new toy. She was totally on board. We talked about it over and over yesterday and did our best to make sure she understood exactly what was going to happen and that she wouldn't get a binky last night. We had done a fairly decent job of limiting the binky to bedtime, and if necessary, her room. (It was our secret shame.) This is the last known photo of Teagan with The Binky. The Dummy. The Pacifier. The Soother. Whatever you want to call it. Here she is, hiding her love away. Literally, she was hiding behind the chair (again, not telling me we were playing Hide and Seek) and must have found one and wanted to keep it a secret.

A few days before that, she snuggled with Daddy and they both conked out, looking rather uncomfortable, but oh-so-sweet.

The irony here is that she is being a big girl "at school" in what she refers to as her school dress...and a binky. Hmm.

We had things to pick up at Target, so we stupidly took her over to the toy section and told her she could pick. I think sleep deprivation played a part here, because we were genuinely surprised when she chose the $60 princess castle. Of course! Wouldn't you? Then it was the world's creepiest toy - Equestria Girls - part human, part My Little Pony. They were horrifying. 

We regrouped and by some miracle were able to escape the store without a complete meltdown, promising her we'd go to another store with more toys to choose from. Enter Kidsignment, a second hand kid's store. After looking at what felt like every toy they had and talking her out of getting a duplicate of something she already had, she chose a Ziploc bag of My Little Ponies. We were on board. And then we got to the checkout.

"That'll be $1.07" said the cashier.

"WHAT?!" said I. But there was no mistake. Seven miniature ponies for the cost of a candy bar. We high-tailed it out of there in case she changed her mind when we both asked her if she was sure that was all they cost. 

Teagan asked for her binky when we went to bed and so we went over what we'd spoken about all day. She did infinitely better than I thought she would, and I was the one to help her feel better at the end of the day. Me and some tiny, plastic horses. Whatever it takes, people.