Pacifiers

Our other three kids never used binkies, never even got the chance. We call it a binky. I've heard it called a paci, but why would you call it something like that when you can call it a binky?

Anyway, AW and I once silently scoffed at those weak parents who started their infants on the road to addiction at such an early age. Our kids weren't going tho have a crutch like that, and neither were we, right?

Well, when Daisy came along she had difficulty sucking, along with a host of other problems. To help her exercise her little mouth, we were advised to keep a pacifier in her mouth. Daisy has a gastric tube, or g-tube surgically implanted in her stomach. For quite some time the tube was the only way she was fed, so the binky helped to stimulate her palette. We followed the advice and quickly learned the mutual pleasure of popping in the little cork and drifting off to slumber.

Now, at 15 months, Daisy is fed by tube only if she is sick. She is an accomplished eater and sippy cupper, yet the binky remains. AW and I have purchased dozens of binkies like the one in the photo, yet somehow it is a miracle if we know where more than one is at any given time. Some have been dropped while out and about, but most of them are here in this house....somewhere.

On several occasions, an emergency trip to Walmart has been necessary to purchase yet another $5.99 two-pack or face an unthinkably binkiless night. What a bargain. I would have gladly paid triple that to ease the withdrawl symptoms for Daisy. For Daisy? Hmm....just who is the addict?

One day, while doing some deeper than usual cleaning, I joyously discovered and gathered 5 binkies from beneath beds and behind appliances. I greedily stashed the loot in my closet with my other most prized possessions. I considered not telling AW, so that I could be a hero each time we fell into crisis, but thought better of it. I decided she too needed the lowered stress that comes with "having money in the bank," so to speak.

AW and I call this rare situation a "binky rich" state, in which all is right with the world. But invariably the stash is raided one by one until we find ourself in the much more common "binky poor" condition. At this moment, I know the whereabouts of two binkies. One is in her mouth and the other one is sitting right here next to my keyboard.

And so it seems, that the more kids you have, the more humility you learn. Where I may have once smugly observed other parent's pacifier choices as weak, I now just eye their kid's binkies with criminal intent.