Big Baby's Addiction

You know how people always tell you that your kids "won't be doing that" when they go to kindergarten?  Well, I don't think any of those people know my little boy, Will, or his addiction to a thing called "Soosey"!!!  He just very well may be the one kid who does go to kindergarten sucking a soother (as if I would actually let him in the building doing that though, he would have to spit it out before he got on the bus! LOL).  I say this in a joking way, but there are times that I really wonder if it might happen.  He is totally, completely, utterly, with out question, addicted to that thing!  I have tried to take it away, tried to keep it from him until bedtime, tried to tell him he is too big for it, I have tried it all….and it doesn’t work.  I know what some of you are thinking – put hot sauce on it; cut the end off of it; throw them all away; just take it away and say he is done – and those are all very good suggestions, however I have tried almost all of them and here is what happens:

Hot sauce – this kid likes ALL food…I am sure he would probably just enjoy the hot sauce!!

Cut ends off – he was so mad at me that he threw a massive fit and scrounged around the house until he found a lost soother with the end attached!

Throw them all away – they are like weeds, they just keep popping up everywhere!

Just take it away and say no more – good luck to me!!

I have tried to tell him he can’t go to playschool in the Fall unless he gets rid of his soosey, but he just says he doesn’t want to go to playschool anyway!  I have tried to get him to give them up to a brand new baby, but he really doesn’t like babies!!  I have tried to tell him he is too big for it and he reminds me that he is my “baby”!! 

He would suck on his soosey 24 hours a day if I let him (no joke), but instead we try to limit it to just naps and bedtime.  Our efforts don’t seem to be working too well though, because most days he can be seen with it in his mouth at all times.  I try to get him to spit it out if someone comes to the door and he knows he is not allowed to take it to town, even if he sucks on it all the way there…it has to stay in the truck. 

I am saying all of this very tongue-in-cheek, but I do know that I must get this habit to stop at some point.  I have never had to deal with a soother sucker like this before (none of my other kids really ever cared much for soothers), and to be quite honest, I just thought he would stop one day, just like he stopped wearing diapers one day.  I think one of the biggest reasons he still has it is because I do not have enough fight in me to make it happen right now.  I figure I still have two full years until kindergarten starts…so we have a bit of time to make it happen yet!!

SJ

Will with two of his beloved Sooseys