Last night, Miles started screaming in the middle of the night. We thought it was Oliver (who is the usual middle-of-the-night screamer) and George prepared to go sleep with him in the playroom. But then I heard, through the tears and angry cries, “I! Want! My! Waya!” And I knew it was Miles.

(He probably looked like this, but two years older.)

I’m not kidding when I say this kid was MAD and he wasn’t going to stop screaming until he got his water. Well, I got his water, and as soon as I gave it to him, not a peep was heard out of him. (His brothers, on the other hand, were all, “thanks for shutting him up, mom.”

So this is what it’s going to be like when we take away the binkies. I’m sure of it.

Yeah, I’m really looking forward to this!

Thanks for all the great tips yesterday, by the way. And the support. I really hope it goes as well as it did for everyone else.

So here we are, at almost two and a half, and Miles and Linus still have their binkies. I am soooooo almost ready to get rid of them. I say “almost” because I really like to sleep.

But Miles looks like a vampire. His front two teeth are pushed way up because of the binky. Linus’s too. Oliver’s, on the other hand, look fine.

I have a plan, though. Tell me what you think.

First, I want Oliver out of the picture. It’s not fair to him to have to listen to his brothers scream all night on either side of him, so I’ll send him to Granny and Grandpa’s for some serious spoiling. This is his reward for finding his thumb way back when. (And yes, I’m aware that one day we may be dealing with thumb-sucking issues, but I don’t care!)

Then, we’ll take Miles and Linus to that Build-A-Bear place and let them make a stuffed animal. They’ll put their binky in the animal, and it will then get all sewn up. (Lots of people have asked me if I worry that they’ll rip open the bears to get at their binkies. Well, gosh, I sure hope the bears are sewn better than that!

I like this idea because it gives them a comfort object to replace the binky. (I suppose this step had better take place on the way to Granny and Grandpa’s house, so that Oliver can get one too.)

And then I will stop at Walgreens to get some earplugs so I can sleep that night.

Gaaah!

I should mention that they do not have their binkies at daycare. And they nap there, so I know they can do it. They go all day without them during the week, and often on the weekends too. It’s nighttime I’m worried about.

Has anyone gotten rid of binkies this way?

I’m not sure when O:B-B-G will take place. Probably after my trip to Canada in June. Maybe sometime in July?

Hold me, I’m scared.

Whaddya mean, you’re taking away my bink???