Declaration of WAR!

You've heard it here first...  I'm declaring war... on the binky.

And I WILL win.

Mostly because I'm terrified of giving in so many times that eventually my kid will end up like this:

Suri Cruise is cool and all, but a binky at 5 years old is NEVER cool...  haha.  

The Battle Plan

Now, I'm not going into this unprepared.  We've got the weekend to weather through the worst of it and we have no major trips or plane rides planned (which is when the binky is a godsend and I will probably wish I had it back)...

I've been testing my theories and determined that now is the time.  Lia has no teeth yet and is at the age where she loves the binky but doesn't ask for it unless she is tired.  So, over the past couple weeks Todd and I have been reducing the number of binkys she has in her crib at night (used to be about 5-6 and now she is down to 1).  Most of the time if she is unable to find her binky (or has already thrown it out of her bed) she is able to go to sleep without it.  

Which gives me hope that this will work.  

So, my goal is to get her to go to sleep for naps without it and sleep with no binky in her crib.  At night I'm hoping to have her fall asleep without the binky, but maybe put one in there after she is sleeping, just in case she wakes up in the middle of the night.  I haven't really decided on that yet.  

I'm not a fan of the "cry it out" method, but I have a feeling Miss Lia is going to be feeling a bit uncomfortable while trying to learn new ways of soothing herself to sleep.  

Hopefully she (and her mom and dad) will survive!    

The hard part is to not give in when she is crying so pitifully and I know exactly what she wants - and I'm just plain refusing to give it to her...  UGH.  

Anyway - send your good wishes and binky-free thoughts this way!