His name is Ben.. and we need to schedule an intervention...

If you've followed any of my blog.. you'll notice that about 80% or more of the pictures of Benjamin include a brightly colored Binky stuck in his mouth. Shiela and I are very comfortable with him having this source of soothing for himself. Even our pediatrician says not to bother taking it away until he's close to 2. I was thinking that we'd shoot for when he enters high school.

Over the past 16 months, we've purchased dozens (maybe hundreds) of Playtex Binkys... He likes the ones with the latex nipples, so they have a shelf life (and are probably toxic, but that's for another blog.. they are more toxic when i dip them in my diet coke to rinse them off after he chucks them onto a restaurant floor).

We've recently come to the conclusion that he is seriously hooked. He wasn't all that excited about bedtime last night, even though he was exhausted. We watched on the video monitor (best invention EVER... also plastic) as he deliberately popped his bink out of his mouth and tossed it over the side of the bumper. This is the sign that he's going to get up.. so he flips and pulls himself up and starts chatterboxing away. I go in and give the bink back to him.. give him a big hug and tell him i love him.. and lay him back down and leave the room. Not a peep. We watch from the other room on the monitor as he pops the bink out again and drops it over the bumper. yes.. he's a smart boy.

So instead of deciding that this was a moment to stand strong and prove that I'm the boss and he needs to stop throwing the bink out of the crib or he'll go without it.. i grab a second bink.. go into his room.. give him the original binky back.. pick him up.. give him a kiss and hug and tell him i love him (he hugs back) and lay him back down and then hand him the second binky. He looks up at me with pure joy and reaches his pudgy hand out to take it from me and then pops his other bink out and looks over both of them before deciding on one.. popping it in and sucking it a few times.. and then switching to the other one. I went back out to the living room.. he was asleep within minutes.. one binky next to his hand and the other one on the mattress next to his head (he usually pops them out when he falls asleep).

The best parenting move ever? who knows... but i got a great hug from my son and didn't miss a minute of the idol results show...

The downside of binky addiction.. binks tend to get lost.. it's amazing where we find them:





And some "Then and Now" pictures....

Now:


Then (May 2007):


Even Before Then (May 2006):