It was time… Time to be brave… Time to be strong… Time to be unafraid… Time to tell Kyla that she needed to say good bye to her dummy… Forever.
Yes, I was scared to do it. Her dummy was like her “precious” and I’m sure if we had let her watch Lord Of The Rings she would have perfected Smeagols accent when asking for it (and maybe even his dodgy crawl-walk manoeuvre). I can’t even begin to explain how attached she was to it – although I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that we shoved it in her mouth the moment she made any kind of unhappy noise from the moment that she was born right up till about a month ago… Ok, so maybe it was our fault… We had created the dummy sucking monster… We had to deal with the drama that would undoubtedly ensue in taking it away.
Day 1 (Insert music from Law and Order for dramatic effect – *DUM DUM*)
Sunday morning dawned. I already started to panic because we decided that today was the day… No dummy will be given, at all, no matter what. Seth spoke to her about the “dummy butterflies” that would come and take her dummy away and give it to other babies all over the world that needed dummies. (Side note: I still can’t wrap my mind around a “dummy butterfly”… Is it a bedazzled, sparkly dummy that has wings attached to it, that flies around the world like a little dummy disco ball? Does it have arms? Legs? A face? I like to picture a purdy little fairy, with a picture of a dummy on her chest. Thus my mistake in calling it a “dummy fairy”, causing mass confusion in Kyla’s mind – very evident on her little face.)
Then darkness came… It was time for a very tired Kyla to go to sleep. She was so tired because she refused her daytime sleep due to a lack of dumminess. Seth pretty much took over the “dummy free duty” – I think he could tell I would cave in. It only took half an hour and she was down! We did a little victory dance in the kitchen….
Day 2 (Insert the *DUM DUM*)
The screaming started just after midnight, so technically it was day 2. It was so bad that we had to give her a dummy to console her. Shame, we couldn’t just break her like that. When the real morning came the dummy just magically disappeared… This dummy butterfly is very efficient by the way.
This day went pretty much exactly the same as the previous day… But the night sleep came a little bit easier.
Day 3 (*DUM DUM*)
Screaming – inconsolable, heart breaking, ear shattering… Being woken up from deep sleep, cloudy head, blank mind = dummy handed over…
She slept in the day (never a good thing – dummy or not, as then bedtime is delayed by 1/2/3 hours…) She was totally buggered, so Ga felt sorry for her and gave her the dummy to fall asleep, then swiftly removed it once she was down.
My turn for night duty with Kyla. I sat till 9pm, when Seth came in and walked around with her for a bit. But sleep did come, even though it was only at 9.30pm.
Day 4 (*DUM DUM*)
I awake with only one child in bed with us, and it was one that resembled Maggie from the Simpsons – sucking merrily on a dummy. Where was Kyla?! Still in bed fast asleep!!! Great relief washed over me… It is possible. But maybe only if she goes to bed at 9 every night (so not worth it, I would rather she had the dummy).
Day 5 (*DUM DUM*)
There were a few night wakings, but only once was the dummy asked for! Success!!!!!!!!!
Since then it’s been pretty good going, unless she sees Ri with it, in which case we have to launch into the “she’s still a baby but you’re a big girl” routine.
I’m so proud of you my precious Kyla. In just these few days it seems as though my little baby has transformed before me, able to handle everything a little bit better. Well done babes, now here’s to giving the dummy away yourself next week sometime…