Mr. Gibbles.

When Lyla was born I was anti-pacifier. I would see children who were far too old with a hunk of plastic hanging out of their mouth like an old cigar as they talked. It did not seem cute to me at all. On about day six of little Lyla’s life she just cried and cried, nothing consoled her. Being new scared parents we decided to give the pacifier a try just to see if it helped. Like a seal at feeding time, she grabbed that thing and then there was silence. We decided she could use it for a little while and then we would surely be done. We also decided it needed a name and Matt came up with Giblet. The Giblet went everywhere with us. We needed it as much as she did. I’d like to think it was our back-up to our wonderful parenting tricks but truth be told it was the first thing we went to in a time of chaos.

Like every good friend, nicknames surfaced quickly- Gibbles and Mr. Gibbles are the two favorites. Slowly we managed to get Mr. Gibbles down to only being used during naps and bedtime. Progress was being made. I would ask Lyla about not having Mr. Gibbles anymore and a flat-out “No” was always the answer.

When Savannah was born, we decided to give the pacifier a chance with her as well. Lyla was fascinated that more Mr. Gibbles were coming into the home. This was huge. New baby sister = more Gibbles. Jackpot! I decided one day to take Lyla to Target to help me shop for new pacifiers for Savannah. I had no intention of getting Lyla another pacifier. Well somehow LYLA ended up with TWO new Gibbles. My rationale in purchasing more was that we could phase out the old newborn one for one that was sized appropriately. Like socks, pacifiers come in sizes and she still has a newborn one. That’s what I told myself in Target anyway. It made sense to me. That’s all that matters, right? I also thought that old Mr. Gibbles could be easily replaced. That was my first mistake. Well actually my second mistake, the first one was the trip to Target. Pretty soon Lyla was skillfully managing two Mr. Gibbles also known as “New Gibbles” and “Old Gibbles”. The attachment was compounded. We had two Gibbles to care for. In the early days of having a newborn and a two year old, Lyla capitalized on our sleep deprivation and foggy heads and came out the victor in the Gibbles department. So now, Old Gibbles and New Gibbles are bargained for continuously by Lyla and they are trusty sidekicks she can’t imagine living without. I asked her the other day if she was ready to say goodbye to both of them and after she took a minute to really think about what I said, she looked at me and said “No”. I think Matt and I have to be ready to say goodbye too- Mr. Gibbles - old and new- are kind of part of the family right now- we can’t just throw our friend away.