Lessons in Motherhood

Yesterday morning I woke up with a spark…it was time to get rid of the binkies. No day like today. Just do it. [Insert other cliche's here] Of course, a few hours later when it was time to begin the nap time process, I lost my nerve.

Today, however, was a new day. It was a day filled with all the promise of a binky-free future. So, before the football games started, we grabbed an envelope, filled it with all of the binkies, and put it in the mailbox.

Then, we piled in the car and headed to Toys R Us where Sophia was allowed to choose any toy (excluding battery powered cars which I claimed were classified as vehicles, not toys). Luckily, that distinction worked or the Binky Fairy would be broke right now.

I actually wish that I had taken some video in Toy R Us because it was really quite hysterical. Unfortunately, I don’t really know how to explain it. If you’re ever trapped in a toy store with a two-year-old, you’ll find out what I mean. Let’s just say that there was a point where she was just running around the store like a complete lunatic.

About halfway through the store, I finally came up with a system whereby she could carry around one toy until she found something she liked better. The last toy she ended up with would be the one she got. That was the best system I could come up with, so feel free to use it if you ever make the unwise mistake of offering to buy your kids “anything” at the store.

Anyway, she traded through several quiet and peaceful toys – Cars figures, cooking utensils, Toy Story characters – before she finally settled on musical instruments. What??!? Seriously?!?! Yeah, she’s going to make us pay big time for losing the binkies. And so we spent the day listening to all types of variations of Baby Baby Oh played on a plastic drum, a tone-deaf trumpet, and a guitar with four untuned strings.

She actually napped fine without her binky. Now, she’s been in bed for about 30 minutes without a peep. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that she doesn’t come marching downstairs at 2am.