Even though Simon is a tough and independent boy (ha! all within reason ofcourse...), he still needed his dummy * to fall asleep at night. He would also often call out to us when it got lost somewhere in his bed.
It wasn't really bothering us and we thought it was nice for him to find comfort this way.
However, recently we had an appointment with the counsel nurse (I have no idea how to translate it and it's too difficult for my vague head to try and explain) and she asked me whether he still used a dummy. This because Simon's pronunciation of the S sounds more like a SSHH (very cute now, but will it still be cute when he's 16?!).
Apparently the dummy's use is causing that speech defect... so the dummy had to go.
We came up with the perfect plan to get rid of it. Once Sinterklaas had arrived in our town, Simon would set his shoe and put all his dummies in there. We told him that we were sure that Sinterklaas would reward him with a nice present.
Simon agreed with the whole plan until yesterday evening when he had to go to sleep without his dummy for the first time. He pleaded with us to get it back. My heart almost broke when he said:"Mummy, I'm still a little boy, you know!" But after that he went to sleep and didn't wake up until the next morning. Tonight he didn't even mention his dummy! It seems our tactic worked!
And ofcourse Sinterklaas left a note saying how proud he was at both of the children and they were each given a present. They deserved it.
So any parents out there that want to lose the dummy... make a deal with Santa!
* A pacifier or binky or piece (North American English), dummy or comforter (British, New Zealand, and Australian English) or soother (Canadian and Irish English), is a rubber, plastic, or silicone nipple given to an infant or other young child to suck upon. (Wikipedia)
