Hi, my name is Natalie...

...and I am an addict.




I don't remember how it began. Mom and Dad say that I was a difficult baby and they tried everything to quiet me. They once saw a binky with the words, "Mute Button" printed on the front. They laughed, but said it didn't work like that for me.

But, it has been 10 days since my last binky fix. I love my "binko." I always will. It was in my mouth all day, unless I was eating, or bathing, or doing something really fun like swimming. I wasn't always sucking on it, though. Sometimes I would chew on it or try to fit the whole thing in my mouth. I was just really used to it being right there. At night, I kept an extra binky under my pillow in case the one in my mouth got lost in my bed.

Ten days ago, I wrapped up my entire collection in a pretty baby bag, then Mommy drove me to "Ms-Amanda's" house. I politely gave the priceless gift to her, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. Ms-Amanda was so excited when she opened my gift. She has two babies growing in her tummy and she told me that her babies would love the binkies. So, I'm okay. Really.

Then Mom took me to Target to pick out a big-girl toy. I chose a Polly Pocket. Mom even said I could sleep with Polly, if I want.

I had a pretty good day the first day without the binky, but the second and third and fourth and fifth were not so good. But I'm okay now. Every once in awhile I get tired or mad and I ask Mom for a binky. She always reminds me that they belong to the babies. That kinda ticks me off. But I'm okay. Really.

I keep waiting for Kiss-a-fer to have his binky. As soon as Mommy turns away, I'm going to snatch it just for a minute. But, for some strange reason Kiss-y hasn't had his binko either. I think Mommy might know what I'm up to. She usually does.

I had a few bad days. I screamed a lot. I just couldn't stop. Maybe my binko was a Mute Button. I heard my Daddy say, "Just give it to her!" I wanted to kiss him! But Mommy said no, give her time.

The funny thing is, Mommy talks to me a lot more now. That might be because I ask her so many questions. The words aren't stuck behind my binky anymore. And I've been meeting all sorts of people. And one lady said to me yesterday, "You have such a pretty smile." I've never heard that before. I said, "Tank-you," because that's what you say when someone says something nice. Then I said, "Yo-welcome," because that's what you say after tank-you.

Mommy and Daddy were talking about my binko the other night. They were saying that now I'm such a big kid and saying all kinds of words they never even knew I knew. Mommy was smiling at Daddy and he was saying "You want me to say, 'You were right', don't you!" Mommy just kept smiling. Then he said, "Okay, you were right."

I still miss my binko, but I'm okay. Really.