Bye-Bye Binky

A monumental day has occurred at the Davis house--for the first time in 3 years, 2 months, and 3 days McKay is without a binky.

I started pushing for the binky departure, when I noticed that her two front teeth were getting slightly pushed forward. Chris thought she needed to give it up for social reasons, as she was the only kid in primary sucking on a binky. But I was thinking long term, and there are plenty of social problems for children whose top teeth hang over their bottom lip. As visions of orthodontic bills started filling my head, I began all sorts of elaborate schemes involving binky fairies, binky rationing, etc. But in the end it was so easy. We were standing in line at Fred Meyer, and McKay saw a Littlest Pet Shop toy, strategically placed at three year old eye level. She started begging, and I offered her a deal. One plastic kitten in exchange for all her binkies. She went for it! We came home. She gathered up all the binkies we could find. (I'm sure about a thousand more are lurking in cracks and crevices throughout our home and van.) And that was it for the binkies. At bedtime she was a little sad without her binky, so I suggested she cuddle her new toy, which she told me was "not a great idea." But she went to bed, slept all night, and Hallelujah! the binkies are gone.