The Dummy Story, and a scary accident

Just to keep you out-of-suspense, Sophie is ok. She is happy and well and has a very exciting story to tell about going to the doctor. She always likes those! Here is evidence - a photo of her last night - looking totally herself, except for that slightly beak-like look to her top lip. Hopefully that's just temporary, with the swelling. I think it'll go away!

Thursday morning, Sophie stacked it. She took a fall, and it didn't look like a terribly bad one at first. She fell off a chair she was sitting on, while trying to climb off and while feeling a bit overtired. She lost her balance and fell flat on her face- onto a concrete floor! The dummy in her mouth at the time (it was just moments from naptime) probably protected her front teeth a bit, but also helped to split her top gum in a long bloody slice. Suddenly there was blood everywhere, and terrifying screaming. At first she refused to drink any water or suck on ice blocks or put anything helpful in her mouth at all. We were pretty scared. But after taking her to her doctor, we finally relaxed a little and started to realise that she was actually ok. Her mouth's healing very quickly, there's no head injury or even bruising, even the one slightly wobbly tooth looks like it will right itself. She didn't get much of a nap that day, what with rushing off to the doctor, but she did get to eat mostly frozen yoghurt bars (“ice cream!”) - for lunch and dinner yesterday, so she was a pretty happy little girl. I am so so thankful that it’s not as bad as it could have been. :)

Also, it looks like we're going to come out of this little adventure dummy - free. We've been thinking about how to make that transition for awhile, and now the answer has just arrived, with no room for argument. Sophie couldn't have a dummy at all on the day of her fall - as it could have disturbed the gash in her mouth and made her bleed more, and also could mess with that delicate tooth. It really stressed her out for awhile not to have it while she was scared, and when she was trying to fall asleep - the only times she really uses it. So that was hard. Getting her to sleep without iton that first night took...longer than I want to calculate! But she finally did fall asleep, and she's slept soundly all through the night. Nap times since have been a bit hit-and-miss… it’s like she has to learn how to fall asleep all over again. But over all she’s getting enough sleep, and we’re all really happy at the success she’s having letting go of a security she’s had for over 2 years now.

We made a bit of a big deal out of saying goodbye to the dummies;  here's how we did it  - We took her to Target and let her pick out a present - a "big girl" present. She chose a big cuddly Elmo, and an Elmo-in-a-Submarine wind-up bath toy. (Cheap,but a BIG hit! Best 7 dollars ever spent!). Then we went home, rounded up all the dummies we could find in the house, and she threw them away in the bin herself, saying “bye-bye” to them. She understood that it was because the doctor said she can't have them and because she's a big girl now and doesn't need them. She was all for the idea, and loved the whole trading them for new toys, which we got to open after the bin ceremony.

Still, actually following through on the change, and not falling back on the reliable dummy in those two-year-old meltdown-moments – that’s a bit hard…for her and me too. Last night I found a surviving dummy in my handbag – the one that got away! I hung onto it…just in case! We were out in the city with friends, and it was a fun and happy night, but got long and late for her at the end. By about 9:00 she was over-tired and was absolutely over it. Just chucked a wobbly, as the Aussies so cleverly say! It was all I could do not to reach into my bag, resurrect the dummy, and calm her instantly.

Ahh…the temptation! The only thing that kept me from it was thinking about her poor little mouth, and how easily the wound could re-open (it’ already done it a few short times in the past few days, for no particular reason) and how much worse things would get if she started bleeding and feeling pain again.

So that's what it took for us to stop "using" - a traumatic injury. I’d better get rid of that one surviving dummy in my bag, before Sophie fully heals and we can backslide! Here's to moving on...to growing up...to healing and learning and getting over it!