I can hear it already. My youngest son is 4 and he still craves a bink (pacifier). The bink fairy came to our home almost 2 years ago to take away the binks. She came to share J's binks with children who needed them. He was now a big boy and didn't need them any longer. This seemed to work well...there was no complaining or arguing. Little did I know...
Fast forward a few years:
I always kept a spare bink in the snack bag in the Jeep. Always be prepared is my motto...so I had healthy snacks packed in the car for those emergency situations where my boys were STARVING!
I went to pick J up at preschool one day and went to load his backpack into the back of the Jeep. The snack back was tipped over and a precious bink was laying in plain view. I didn't think twice about it since J hadn't used one in ages.
"Give that to me!", he demanded in a deep tone. I was puzzled by this response and quickly reminded him that he was too old for binks. He was a big boy now. He didn't seem happy about it, but he relinquished the bink.
This morning:
Now that there is a baby in the house, there are also binks. J has painstakingly looked over each of A's binks to make sure that they don't belong to him. Thankfully the purple gives it away.
J was in a playful mood this morning and snatched A's bink off the counter. He bounced out of the room like a cat with a treat and the house became very quiet. If you have children, you know that this is never a good thing.
My husband walked around the corner with a huge smirk on his face. He giggled and told me that J was hiding around the corner with A's bink in his mouth...he was sucking on it like his life depended on it. When he saw his dad, he quickly covered his eyes...like this would act like an invisibility cloak. If only he knew the truth.
Is there are rehabilitation center for 4 year olds who feel the need to still have a bink? I may need to look into it. For now, I'll keep a close eye on A's binks and try to distract J as much as I can. We'll see if that helps.
Your post made me laugh. A bink addict. Hmm. Maybe it's just kind of a regression thing. New baby. Lots of changes. It just kind of feels good to have something to suck on. Better that than his thumb, which would eventually mess up his teeth.
ReplyDeleteAnd when he gets old enough for sports, depending on what he plays, he will have a mouth piece. They don't exactly suck those, but some kids, my oldest son included, chews on the corner of it, so much that he needs a new one every day. That could replace the bink and would probably be more socially acceptable in high school :)