Bye bye, baby teeth

Brooklyn has a loose tooth.

I can't remember ever feeling quite so shaken by a developmental milestone. Perhaps it's because of the name--baby tooth. Once Brooklyn loses that, let's face it--she's simply not a baby anymore. Every time I see her wiggle her tooth with her tongue, I'm filled with nostalgia. When did she grow up, and why didn't I notice? It makes me want to turn back the clock and savor the small moments just a bit more.

In Brooklyn's case, the emotions are doubly mixed because it means that we simply can't procrastinate the inevitable any longer--giving up the binky. Now wait, I know what you're thinking--what in the heck is a five year-old doing with a pacifier anyway? I'd probably frown the same way too, because at least from a distance, perfect parenting is so easy. Give up the binky--c'est évident. Yet place these well-intentioned words into the specific context of my child and her addiction, and the feat seems nearly impossible. Up until now, I've consoled myself by thinking that the binky was only messing up her baby teeth. But with permanent teeth just around the corner, the plug has finally got to go.

It's impossible to overstate the deep emotional attachment of Brooklyn to her pacifier. During the 1,837 days she's spent on earth, I don't think she's ever been a night without it. She willingly forfeited afternoon school in France because she couldn't bear the thought of napping without a binky. When I explained how it gets dark sooner during the winter, Brooklyn actually got excited and said, "Then I can go to bed earlier and have more time to suck on my binky!" Once Brooklyn was having a sleepover in her Grandma's room and desperately wanted to prove how grown up she was getting by sleeping without her pacifier. At 12:30 am, NomiAnn finally grew so tired of listening to Brooklyn toss and turn that she found her binky just so she could fall asleep. When she was four, Brooklyn talked about giving up her pacifier when she turned five. But when five came, she decided that she wouldn't be ready until she was a "big five."

Well, her teeth have spoken, and "big five" is here. Yesterday evening, after some very genuine and heartfelt tears, I allowed Brooklyn to sleep with her binky once last time. In all of our prayers today, we have been praying that Brooklyn would have the courage to settle down without this sleep aid. We sat down for a very grown-up talk where I explained how I understood how extremely difficult it was for her to give up something she loves so very much, but that I would never ask this of her if it weren't truly important.

And tonight, we did it. Brooklyn went to sleep for the very first time without a binky. I use the term "we" very deliberately, because it was certainly a collective effort. Brooklyn did her best, but it took me lying in bed with her for over an hour before Jason finally stepped in and told her a Bearlemicus story that lulled her off to dreamland. The task was doubly difficult since Talia shares a room with Brooklyn, and Talia's always restless. Usually it doesn't matter since Brooklyn falls asleep the moment she gets her binky, regardless of what antics her sister is up to. But tonight it was hard. Really hard. But we made it.

The secret? Mountains of love, confidence, and trust? Possibly. But more likely, it was the shameless bribery. I'll let you know what she picks out during our trip to the toy store tomorrow. :)