When my oldest child was a little less than two years old, I
decided, based on all the reading I had been doing, that it was time for him to
give up his pacifier. He loved his
binky. I mean loved it. All three of my children loved their
pacifiers, but Riley, by far, loved his the most. I remember I put him in his crib for a nap
one day and I gently laid him down without his beloved binky. He cried and cried and cried. I would go in and try to soothe him and then
leave the room and he cried and cried and cried. And screamed.
And gasped for air. And he cried
so hard that he literally threw up all in his crib. So then we had not one, but two people
crying, because now I had no idea what to do with this inconsolable baby plus
now I had to clean the puke up.
Guess what I did? I
gave the binky back to that baby.
And then about six more months went by and he still had that
binky.
Then our neighbors had a little
baby boy. I told Riley that baby Adam
needed a binky now, so he agreed to take baby Adam his binky and that was
that. No crying, no fits, no
puking.
I have often thought back to this moment because I believe
there’s a lot more to it than a baby giving up a pacifier. There have been times in all of our lives
when we try to make changes…careers, education, relationships…all sorts of
things. Sometimes we try to begin new
chapters or end chapters or skip over chapters before we’re ready and
things just don’t work out. We hold onto
things that we can’t seem to let go of or we let go of things that we can’t
seem to hang on to. I think because sometimes
our timing isn’t right, we end up being like the baby in the crib, crying so
hard that we gasp for air, then ultimately reach our breaking point. (aka Pukeville)
That doesn’t mean things will always go smoothly, even when
the timing is right. I’m sure Riley had
lapses of wanting that binky back throughout the following weeks, but it wasn’t
nearly as traumatic as it had been. So
if you’re trying to make changes, listen to that screaming baby inside of
you. Maybe it’s not time to let go of
your binky (or change careers, or begin a new relationship or have a baby or
quit your job and join the Rockettes) today. When the timing is right, you will often find courage, strength, peace
and blessings will also come along for the ride.
-lightningbug
