Bye-Bye, Bink-Bink!

You know those scenes in movies and cartoons where the main character is struggling with their conscience, in the form of Angel vs. Devil? The conversation usually consists of a volley of arguments from either side. I want you to just imagine, if you will, the following scene: I am on my hands and knees searching for the one remaining pacifier we had (we have gone through about 30 of them over the last 20 months or so), for the seemingly hundredth time. At this point, what went on in my head was a conversation like this: Me: “This is absolutely ridiculous! I shouldn’t be so panicked about finding the bink, to get this girl to sleep!” Angel: “Maybe it’s time to wean Miss Stella off of the bink. Devil: “Do you really want to endure the torture of taking her off the bink right now?” Me: “No, not really.” Angel: “It will just get harder the longer you wait.” Me: “That’s true. OK. That’s it. I am not doing this anymore. Off the bink we go.” By ‘we’ I also meant me and Glenn. I have occasionally wondered aloud if we are more dependent on the darn thing, than Stella. This was last Saturday night. It is now Tuesday. So far so good. Stella is a bit clingy, a little whiney, and wants nothing to do with Glenn, when I am around. Other than that, she is doing just great. Last night, as I am trying to get her to sleep, sans bink, she begins to fuss, and try to escape the king fu grip I have around her, so she’ll stay in the rocker with me. After a few minutes of this (she seemed to be gaining strength from this, not losing it), I start singing the opening number from Hairspray. This got her attention, if only for a few moments. Then, I suggested we say a little prayer. To digress, I just have to confess that we don’t say a regular family prayer. We bless our meals, but, other than that, we are never together to say one. And, frankly, things seem to change so much around our place that it has been challenging, to say the least, to get into much of a routine. Whenever I think about it, Stella and I say our prayers together at night. OK, to get back to last night, As soon as a prayer was mentioned, Stella settled into my arms, as she folded hers. It was very sweet. We blessed anyone and everyone we could think of. I drew it out for as long as I could, because she was so attentive, and still. Once the prayer was over, Stella began inquiring about everyone who was mentioned in our little prayer, her friends, and family. She started to go down the list, and asked “Gramma nigh-night?” “Yes,” I responded, “Gramma’s going nigh-night. “ We went down the entire list in a similar fashion: Grampa, Tio, Alika (friend), Jakey (friend), Dad, Mel, Nay-Nay, Mom, Zack, Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Tacee (Tracy – Hairspray), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Uncle Scotty, Ya-Ya, Papa, and so on. Once she made it through the list, she went through it again, and again. After the fourth time: “Shhh… Stella needs to go nigh-night….” was the most intelligent thing I could come up with, in response to Stella’s half hour long string of chatter at 10:30 last night. She talked non-stop for almost 40 minutes. I couldn’t get a peep in edge-wise. It was quite funny and sweet, but I was exhausted, and just needed the little monkey to fall asleep. Now that I think about it, I wonder if that was Stella’s way of saying her own little bedtime prayer. If so, then I just need to learn a bit more patience, no matter how tired I may be.