Pitting your wits against a two year old sounds easy enough, right?

Well, it seems that when it comes to the issue of giving up a dummy, I may be no match for Bubble.

I confess, before having children, I was never a lover of the pacifier.   No child of mine would have one of those horrible old things stuffed in their face, no sirree.

When the Woo came along, I stuck to my guns.  At the age of three months old, the Woo began to teethe, and Hubbster came home with a dummy for him.  He seemed to like it…but I didn’t and much to Hubbster’s consternation I tossed it into the bin.

No dummy for my baby!

Hot on the heels of his brother, Foghorn was born when the Woo was twenty months old.  At the age of three months, when he began to teethe,  again,  Hubbster came home with a dummy.  He seemed to like it…and although I didn’t, things were different this time.

I was exhausted from chasing an active toddler around by day, and feeding a newborn by night  and I admit, I kind of liked the peace this miricle little plastic pacifier brought.

The dummy stayed.

When the boys’ surprise little sister arrived when Foghorn was only seventeen months I added a pink dummy into my grocery basket next to Foghorn’s blue one.

Huh?  Dummies?  Love them!

Although Foghorn had a dummy until his third birthday, and was so attached to them he’d go to sleep with one in his mouth and one in his hand, ditching it was surprisingly easy.  I had heard horror stories in the school yard from other mums about dummy weaning.

“I took my child’s dummy away too soon, and now they suck their thumb and I can’t stop them,”

“My child had their dummy to long and now the dentist said their teeth are all out of shape.”

If we are to listen to all the conflicting stories, parenting is a minefield of potential mistakes and pitfalls that we blame on ourselves.  What’s a mum to do?

I decided to back my own hunch and wait until I thought he was ready.  Luckily for me, it paid off.

On Foghorn’s third birthday we walked into Toys R Us.  He had been longing for a big boy bike like The Woo’s, and I capitalized on this.  He chose his big boy bike, walked up to the counter, and ‘paid’ for it with his dummy.  At last he was a big boy like his brother.  We never heard anything more about it.

I’ve always had it in my mind that Bubble would be just as easy.

Today, after waking her up from her nap to do the school run, we walked the short distance to the school.  Foghorn clutched my hand chattering away happily, whilst Bubble dragged her heels and whined “I want my dummy….I want my dummy.”

“The fairies are going to come soon and take your dummies to give to the little babies,” Foghorn tried to tell her.

Yeah, that’s right!  Grow up lil sister.  Your dummy time is numbered.

Bubble’s chin quivered and she burst into tears in earnest.

She loves babies…but clearly not enough to part with her dummy.

I tried a different tact.

“Hey, did you know Foghorn used to have a dummy.  When he was a little bit bigger than you Mummy took him to the toy shop and he gave the lady his dummy….”

“Noooooooooooo,” howled Bubble, already understanding that this dummy story still, in some way, related to her giving up her dummy.

“And she let him have a bike!”

“I don’t want a bike!” she pouted.

“Well, there might be something in the toy shop you like,” I smiled at

her hopefully.

She stuck out her bottom lip and shook her head adamantly.

“They have beautiful dolls there, don’t they Foghorn?” I continued.

“Yeah!  They have everything, don’t they Mummy?  All the cool stuff in the world.  You just have to pick what you want and pay the lady with your dummy.  It’s so cool, isn’t it Mummy?”

Yes, I nodded, making a mental note to give that kid an extra shake of the parmesan cheese on his spag bol that night.

“Anything?” Bubble quizzed her head cocked to the side thinking.

We were making some headway.  This was really friggin exciting.

“Yes!” I answered enthusiastically, making a second mental note to only steer her towards the cheap aisle.

“You take me to toy shop Mummy?”  she asked little wet tears still glistening in her eyes.

“Of course I will!” Unable to contain my excitement any longer I scooped her up for a big cuddle.

“What do you want to buy at the shop?”

She took my face in her hands, gave me a big wet kiss on the mouth and said “A PINK dummy.  You right.  This one is yucky.”

So, please PLEASE share your secrets to doing away with the dreaded dummy.  I am no match for this two year old!