However, now-a-days, my high school students use it as a catch phrase meaning "I could give two shits about you, get out of my face." I am forever curious if they know from where that actual slang derives. I also wonder how many of them have actually seen the movie Friday. Hopefully not many.
Either way, this slang crops up about every day in the hallways where I teach, so I thought it only appropriate to use cool, hip, teen-slang to say this: WE ARE DONE WITH THE PACIFIER.
Let me start at the beginning. We are not PPP (pro-pacifier parents), but instead, APP (anti-pacifier parents). We requested that the hospital not give James a pacifier at birth. I remember about having a heart attack when they brought him back from his circumcision and HE HAD A PACIFIER IN HIS MOUTH! I was appalled and asked the nurse to make sure that didn't happen again (in a very nice, soothing, thank-you-for-helping-me-deliver-my-baby voice). After that, there was no pacifier.
All of this came from watching people that we know give their children, 4, 3, and 1, pacifiers. FOUR. THREE. ONE. Now, that's their choice, and sometimes, we as parents do what we have to do (Cheesy Dibbles for dinner, anyone?). But at the same time, four??? I remember at a get-together, James grabbed a pacifier from the older (again, FOUR), and put it in his mouth (upside down, of course, because he didn't know better). I took it out immediately and caught a glimpse of a regular looking shield with a HUGE, BULBOUS nipple on the end. I asked what kind of pacifier that was, and the mother replied, "one for kids who shouldn't have pacifiers anymore." Okay, sooooo, you know your kid shouldn't have a pacifier anymore. That's the first step, I guess.
After watching their two oldest beg, plead and cry for pacifiers, and also walk with it in their mouths, and talk around it, Eric and I became APP. But after that episode, I saw SO MANY PEOPLE with their kids old enough to walk, talk, and otherwise know what a pacifier is, have a pacifier. Again, not judging, but we definitely did not want that to be our child. Not to mention, because the aforementioned 1 year old had a pacifier for so long, and the WRONG pacifier, her teeth grew in around it. So, that was it for us.
Then we had Catherine.
Don't get me wrong. Our kids have the things they are attached to. But they are only attached to them in our home. They don't get to take it to daycare. They don't get to take it out and about. The only time they get to take their blankets with them, is when we are headed to the Grandma's or Grandpa's houses. And they know it. Sometimes, James will ask to take his blanket somewhere (mostly to daycare, where another little girl is allowed to bring her blanket everywhere with her), but we put the kabosh on that one pretty quickly. And our kids know it.
However, thanks to several issues with Catherine and her bowel movements (or rather, bowel immobility...), she would scream. All. The. Time. It was horrendous. I remember there being nights where I would have to honestly, and very motherly, go in and scrape out her poop, or try to help her have a bowel movement. We would do glycerine suppositories and I would cry with her, and it was awful. So we tried a pacifier. It helped. Not all the time, but it helped.
And slowly, it developed into quite often. We tried to curb it at daycare and home, but it just seemed to reappear again.
Then this weekend happened.
Somewhere, Catherine threw the only pacifier that our daycare provider had overboard on their walk. Gone was the pacifier that Catherine would have when she went down for her naps. So Christy just put her to bed without one. And Catherine did just fine.
Then, we lost most of the pacifiers in our house, except one, which happened, and for some reason was, in the console of my car. But I went out with friends on Friday night, and what should occur? I took the only pacifier we had with me. So Eric just put her down without one.
That night, we decided that since she did well, we wouldn't give her a pacifier all weekend. And to our surprise, she made it all weekend. There was never any crying, there wasn't even a temper tantrum. And since she doesn't talk, she especially didn't ask for one.
I had read forum after forum on how to get rid of the "binky" and watched as mothers posted their "help me" posts on my parenting support group on Facebook. I would do just about everything BUT take copious notes in regard to how to get rid of it. I was determined to do it before E3 gets here. And guess what?
I didn't really need much. And apparently, she didn't really need the pacifier.
So, bye-bye Felicia. Hope you don't come back with this third one!
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