Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The One Where I Embarass the Heck out of My Son



My son was a Binky Baby and a Binky Boy-not giving up his Mr. Binks until he was well past 3 (and it mysteriously got "lost").

When he was really tiny, and still sleeping in our room in the 2 bedroom home we started out in, his crib was at the end of our bed. Because that was, literally, the only spot in the whole house for it. There were always a couple of pacifiers in the crib. (of course, sanitized....cough, cough, he was a newborn and all...ahem) One morning, my husband walked by on his way to the shower and looked in at him. He had his cow binky in his mouth. Cow binky because it was yellow with little black spots on the white handle...I suppose it could have been Dalmation binky but... I digress. When he returned, he looked back in and James had normal Gerber binky in his mouth. Somehow our little itty bitty brand new baby had switched binks...

...

....

Well, anyway, we thought it was cute and funny and genuis like at the time...

***awkward pause***

When he got older he would take the flippy handle of his binky and push it up underneath his nose. It always had to be this way. If you flipped it down (which I never did because that is mean and no way would I do that to my child...) he would immediately flip it back up and I...I mean another person...would laugh, and do it again. In later years reading here will probably give him some sense of why he is the way he is. He would smile with Binks in his mouth and you could only tell he was smiling because of his marvelous, daddylike dimples.

When he began to speak, it was to holler for "BINT!!!!!!" and then "BINK!!!!!!" and finally, "MR. BINKS!!!!!!"

The other amazing (or maybe not) thing was that you could hear him sucking on his binky from the living room at night when he was asleep in his crib. It was that roof of the mouth suctiony "Cuk, cuk, cuk" noise. This is actually the reason for this post. Last night, sleeping on the pullout with me (which he does not do and I am just making this up if you are one of the 9 year olds from his class reading this), I noticed that he still does that. He still sucks on an imaginary Mr. Binks...It brought tears to my eyes to hear that sound. I knew this on some level, because I often hear that "Cuk, cuk, cuk" coming from his room at night, but laying in bed watching his little mouth just made me bittersweet for my baby boy.

If he asks, I did not just tell you this.

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awwwwww.......
That is awfully sweet.

Nance said...

...tell me what?

Laurie in Ca. said...

I sure didn't hear it here, nope. What a sweet little memory that lives in your heart to this day. Your kids will never stop amazing you Laura and someday in the **FAR** future:), when you have the gift of a grandchild from them, oh, it will steal your heart away forever!! That is such a sweet picture of James and Leonard. I hope your week is a little bit lighter for you.

Laurie in Ca.

Sarah said...

We called it a pappy at our house (trying to call it 'paci'). And it ripped my heart out when my then-3 year old traded it for a Buzz Lightyear doll. And now that he's 10, he still does the 'cuk, cuk,cuk' when I wake him up in the morning. Don't you miss it sometimes? (He was a SCREAMER, so I really don't miss much about those days!)

Anonymous said...

Those beasts were called "nukkies" in our home and caused a red-face on more occasions than I care to remember. Picture a 4 year old coming to the table as you're hosting your bridge club and saying "daddy needs nukkie" and then trying to explain that he meant for the baby!

Laura, if you're really looking for a hobby, I found cross-stitching enjoyable and kept my mind off things. It's not difficult but you need to give it your attention. The end product is very nice too -- not that I ever finished one.

I suspect the "cuk cuk cuk" is of some comfort to James - old habits die hard. What a sweet story you NEVER told.

Shannon said...

I love not hearing stories about your kids ;)

Stella said...

My 13 year old John still does that too. I won't tell yours if you don't tell mine.

His was a "pug," because his daddy used to call it a plug. The name is still a treasured "daddy" memory of John's.

Love,
Stella

Rach said...

Ah, the "hassy". :o) That photo of your two men is just DELIGHTFUL! :o)

Did you mention something about a...nope, not here. ;oP

J said...

Oh, if he ever finds this, you're doomed. Luckily, kids rarely find anything their parents have to say the least bit interesting. You'll probably be OK.

Maya was a binky girl, too, though hers got "lost" at around 10 months. ;) Not because we were super parents or anything, just because she was waking up several times a night, just wanting us to get it back for her. If she could have done it for herself, she would have kept it for a lot longer, I'm sure.

Erin said...

SO sweet. Made me feel all weepy and affectionate toward my own little binky addict (who is also likely going to have binkies until well after three. Hey, worse things have happened...)

Ronni said...

They usually ditch them before kindergarten...

Unknown said...

How Sweet.

Emblita said...

This is such an adorable story- what a fabulous thing that he still makes those sounds. Awwwwwwww

Kissing of the Frogs said...

Awe Laura what a sweet post...reminds me of my own little boys. My baby is 9 too....and he called it his "binky" - they are precious aren't they? That picture of your baby with Leonard is beautiful.
Hugs,
Rose

Donna said...

LOL...What a Fun memory!...Oopsss...I mean, What a fun memory...if parts of it had Actually happened!!LOL....Love to 'ya Sweetie!hughugs

Debbie said...

Reading this not true story brings back wonderful memories. My son wouldn't take a pacifier...no...had to have the thumb and the blankie. At age 8 when I was telling everyone else to shut up "he'll stop when he's ready"...he did :-)

No harm to teeth and after braces for crooked teeth, the boy is gorgeous.

Wonder if he'd like to take a piece of blankie to basic training for Air Force? I still have it.

OH gosh...please don't repeat that anywhere..he'll kill me. (Shhhh...we have secrets)

Courtney said...

Your secret is safe with me, but I do have to tell you that this post got me a little misty. I can imagine his mouth in that sucking motion and could picture my girls in a few years. How bittersweet!

Btw, thanks for playing along with the what's your best/hardest.

Rebecca said...

I know nothing. *wink*

And no, my 11-yr old NEVER slips into my bed at night. Doesn’t happen.

I love that cuk-cuk sound too! My 3-yr old used to be a thumb sucker and makes that noise in his sleep as well. Oddly, I love that sound.

Anonymous said...

My oldest daughters was a baboo, no idea why she called it that. It got lost too. After I read your post I looked at my youngest daughter sleeping on the way home and she sleeps with her tongue sticking out and she sucks on her tongue as if she still has her thumb in her mouth. Thanks for reminding me to slow down.

Betts4 said...

I love the photo of them!!!

Linda said...

How sweet...My kids were all thumbsuckers, but Ella is a binky baby. The ONLY binky she will have is the green "soothie", rubber type that they give the newborns in the hospital. She calls it her "bub-ba". This last Sunday when she was over, the puppy got ahold of the "bub-ba", and before we realized that, he had chewed off one side. Ella deemed it still "usable", so after a good washing the "half bub-ba" was back in commission!
P.S. fairy princess dress on-binky in the mouth. she is half baby/half fairy.

~Red Tin Heart~ said...

Laura, that is so sweet. Elizabeth has a "ninny" until she was 3.
That is what she called her binky.
Sometimes John had to go out in the middle of the night if she lost hers and buy her a new one.
Thinking of you.. love nita

Ortizzle said...

cuk, cuk, cuk... huh?

Miguelita said...

I love this story. I mean, what story????!

Gina said...

Dude, I have no idea what you are talking about. Nope, no adorable story about sweet boys. Not here.

Cherry said...

So Adorable!
That is a really good memory to capture!

Shari said...

Thanks for sharing this "non-fiction" story. It was really cute.

Ironically, I just posted something about pacifiers. I called them Nookies/nukies. My kids never got into them. You put it in their mouth and out it goes.

Jess said...

Gabriel is SO loud with the paci too! He almost growls on it when he is annoyed. This is just the sweetest post, thanks for sharing. :-)

Donna said...

Blessed Easter to you and your children sweetie!hughugs

Marshamlow said...

So sweet. I hope you are well, sending hugs.

Ronni said...

Knock...knock...knock...

Anyone home?

BetteJo said...

I didn't read a word.

Anonymous said...

Dear Laura:

I pray that the renewal of the Easter season touches your heart and soul.

Thinking of you.

Jen said...

Just wanted to tell you hello, and that I'm thinking of you today.

Kesha said...

Popping in to say hi and offer hugs to you and yours. I hope the weekend was a good one for you Laura.

Much love.

kesha

Anonymous said...

I thought of you often yesterday, beings that it was a Sunday AND a holiday...hope you had a good one.
Hope to see a new post soon!
Thinking of you -
Jess

Jen said...

thinking of you!

Anonymous said...

Thinking of you. Missing your writing. Hope you're doing ok.

Much love.

Karen MEG said...

Cutest post, and how sweet that those are his sleeping noises now.

No more comments on this because I forgot already ;)

misguidedmommy said...

yeah bawling now