Diary from De-tox
Binky Detox Diary: Day 4
I'll admit it (that's the first step, right?). I didn't think giving up the binkies was going to be this hard. At least not on Don and me. OH MY GOODNESS.
Monday, the addict ended up getting a binky at school during nap time. Evidently, it's just like other hard core drugs (read: meth, heroin). One little hit throws you right off the wagon. When he was with my mom later in the afternoon, he found the stash of binkies I'd hidden and was happily slurping away when I came home. (Mom hadn't read the blog and didn't know we were in rehab. Don't they call those people "enablers"?)
Monday night, I found out who the weak parent is. Hint: Not me. I feel ALL the guilt (the kind you only feel from listening to your child sob and say, "I don't want to be a big boy. I need to be a baby") but it only strengthens my resolve. Reluctant to give in completely, we found a compromise (think of it as the binky "patch"). I cut the ends off all the binkies and let him choose which one he wanted.
These new, "broken" binkies seem to be working out better than the cold turkey method. At first, he cried and said, "fix it." When we explained that they were all broken, I half expected him to ask to go to Target. So far, he hasn't thought of that one.
Tuesday, he didn't nap at all and had a rough bedtime (I didn't know I could actually sleep in a toddler bed... with a toddler....and a stuffed dinosaur....and "baby Lala"... and 2 blankets.... and, of course, 2 broken binkies.). But, by midnight, he was asleep.
Today has been the breakthrough day. At naptime, I suggested that since the binkies weren't "working", maybe he'd just like to hold one in his hand. Guess what? It worked. When I went to check on him awhile later, he had pushed the two binkies under his closed bedroom door into the hall. Quite a powerful statement of protest, I'd say. There lay the reject binkies, abandoned in the hall as if to say, "Those? I don't even want them around anymore." Best of all, he took a nap. WITHOUT A BINKY. The child SLEPT.
Bedtime has been pretty smooth. Don put him down before I was home without too much fuss. When I came home, I went in and tucked him in (of course he was wide awake), but no crying.
I'll admit it (that's the first step, right?). I didn't think giving up the binkies was going to be this hard. At least not on Don and me. OH MY GOODNESS.
Monday, the addict ended up getting a binky at school during nap time. Evidently, it's just like other hard core drugs (read: meth, heroin). One little hit throws you right off the wagon. When he was with my mom later in the afternoon, he found the stash of binkies I'd hidden and was happily slurping away when I came home. (Mom hadn't read the blog and didn't know we were in rehab. Don't they call those people "enablers"?)
Monday night, I found out who the weak parent is. Hint: Not me. I feel ALL the guilt (the kind you only feel from listening to your child sob and say, "I don't want to be a big boy. I need to be a baby") but it only strengthens my resolve. Reluctant to give in completely, we found a compromise (think of it as the binky "patch"). I cut the ends off all the binkies and let him choose which one he wanted.
These new, "broken" binkies seem to be working out better than the cold turkey method. At first, he cried and said, "fix it." When we explained that they were all broken, I half expected him to ask to go to Target. So far, he hasn't thought of that one.
Tuesday, he didn't nap at all and had a rough bedtime (I didn't know I could actually sleep in a toddler bed... with a toddler....and a stuffed dinosaur....and "baby Lala"... and 2 blankets.... and, of course, 2 broken binkies.). But, by midnight, he was asleep.
Today has been the breakthrough day. At naptime, I suggested that since the binkies weren't "working", maybe he'd just like to hold one in his hand. Guess what? It worked. When I went to check on him awhile later, he had pushed the two binkies under his closed bedroom door into the hall. Quite a powerful statement of protest, I'd say. There lay the reject binkies, abandoned in the hall as if to say, "Those? I don't even want them around anymore." Best of all, he took a nap. WITHOUT A BINKY. The child SLEPT.
Bedtime has been pretty smooth. Don put him down before I was home without too much fuss. When I came home, I went in and tucked him in (of course he was wide awake), but no crying.
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