"You don't want a binky for your nap, Abby? That's great! You know, big girls don't need binkies anymore," I said.
She looked proud at first, then uncertain, and we went back and forth for a bit as I tried to determine if what she said was really want she wanted.
By the end of lunch, the consensus seemed to be that the binky was now undesirable.
Off she skipped, across the living room, up the stairs, and into her bed. I tucked her in and cheerfully bid her a good nap, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
Almost immediately I heard banging on the wall, but she stayed in bed. After a few minutes, all seemed to be quiet, however the monitor revealed that she was sitting up and talking to herself. Then, around the time that I went into my own bedroom to put Mia down for a nap, I began to hear all kinds of chaos break loose.
Tom dutifully ascended the steps, binky in hand, to restore order. His footfalls lightly shook the floor above me as he made his way along. Abby was sitting up in her bed, looking defiant. Reminding her that it was time to take her nap, he offered a pacifier that he'd brought along for reinforcement. "No, I don't want it." Seeing that he had begun to tuck it in his pocket, she protested, "No, don't put the binky in your pocket! Put it downstairs."
Tom faced a bit of a dilemma, then, as he had planned to help re-situate her before going downstairs, but wanted his hands free to do so. He began to casually set the binky on the foot of the bed, and was interrupted by further protestations."No, don't put it on the bed."
"I'm just going to put it there until I take it downstairs," he assured her.
"Ok."
As he guided her back down onto the mattress, he offered to tuck her in, but she refused. "No, I don't want you to tuck me in."
"Ok, but let's try to get some sleep, Sweetie."
Gingerly, he rose, and began to head to the door, silently counting.
Then came the command: "I don't want you to take the binky downstairs."
"Where should I put it?"
"On the bed."
"Ok, I'll put it here." He pointed to a spot near to her head.
"No, don't put it there."
Returning it back to the foot, "How about this?"
"That's good."
"Ok, Sweetie, night-night--lets get some sleep."
Thirty seconds later, he checked her progress on the monitor. Sure enough, she had pushed herself up in bed, and was reaching forward for the pacifier, which she snatched up and popped into her waiting mouth.
Someday, someday, we'll be free of the thing.
Today is not that day.
