Operation Debinkification

Our mission, which we’ve been left no choice but to accept, is to force Lilly to give up her pacifier (a.k.a. binky). What started as a simple comfort for bedtime and naptime only, has evolved into a full-blown addiction.

Once limited to the crib and carseat (with hopes of encouraging sleep), Lilly now requests her binky when she feels the slightest bit tired, cranky or uncomfortable no matter where or when. This was not a major concern for her first year of life, but she is nearing her 2nd birthday now. And there is a major deadline looming: Preschool. August 23rd. No binkies allowed.

For this seemingly impossible task (at least if we expect any sleep this week), we are taking a page out of my sister’s playbook. Rather than the Shock and Awe…ful tantrums of going cold turkey, we’re going to try a plan of “Mutilate and Disappoint.”

Operation De-Binkification

Pre-Mission Prep: Gather ALL binkies from yonder where they went missing (under the crib, scattered in the car, bottom of the toy box or, in my sister’s case, from the inner workings of the surround sound system). One AWOL binky can undermine the whole operation.

Strategy: Mutilate every binky on a daily and incremental basis in order to instill disappointment and disinterest in binky.

Mission Goal: Voluntary surrender of the binky within a week.

The Operation Debinkification by MushBrain, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at mushbrain.net.