Friday, December 02, 2005 | This hasn’t been an easy day for a man who lives vicariously through his child.
Today, my wife and I decided it was time for Alex to give up her binkies.
That’s when Alex started crying and saying she wanted her binky. My wife tried to explain that the binkies went to the hospital for the babies. Alex wasn’t happy and said, “they don’t like binkies.”
“Yes they do.”
“I want to go and get them back.”
“We can’t do that. They’ll be sad.”
“I want my binkies back.”
After a few more minutes of fits, we were home and Alex was calmer, albeit teary-eyed.
My wife spent the next half hour calming her down for a nap and it wasn’t easy but it wasn’t the blood curdling hassle I predicted.
As my wife told me later, “The only thing she said was, ‘Something’s missing.’”
Our no-binky zone has only been in effect a few hours so I can’t predict how it will go but, honestly, it probably won’t be easy.
My sister-in-law went through the binky battles a few years with my nephew and she says the next few months he would look at other kids like an alcoholic passing a liquor store.
Sadly, I checked and there are no 12-step programs for pacifier addiction.
David Moye is a La Mesa-based writer who can’t remember when his pacifier was taken away from him or if it had any lasting effects.