Oops

"Beeni Baby" binky holder

Garrett has a very strong sucking reflex, and wants a bink in his mouth at all times.  Before he was born, I was totally against pacifiers.  Then he came out, latched on like a pro, and I decided that it just might be okay. :)  Anyways, he often sucks so rigorously that his bink pops out and inevitably falls on the floor.  Mark and I have always said, "Wouldn't it be nice if there were some kind of strap that just keeps it in there for him?"  We never thought such a thing actually existed, considering the obvious choking and asphyxiation hazards.  But I decided to google it anyways, just to satisfy my curiosity.  Oh man.  I was slightly horrified to find this contraption.
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It's called a "Beeni Baby."  Initially I thought it was a joke.  But....it's NOT.  Can you believe this?  I mean, really?  Luckily it has been re-called.  Just because all of us 'wish' this kind of thing existed, we all know that it's totally impractical and unsafe.  The best part was all the comments from parents.  Here are a few of my favorites:
 
"No way. it looks like a muzzle. would NEVER use this with my child or give it to anyone as a gift."
"For one thing, it doesn’t look right at all!"
"Ok, we’ve all thought of this (including plain old duct tape), but none of us actually did it! I think I dislike this as much as Walking Wings. Just do the work yourself (meaning pick up the paci, clean it off, etc). No one said being a mom was a cake walk of baby products that did the job for you."
So the verdict is out on "Beeni Baby": definite NO.  Guess we'll just continue to fish around in Garrett's swing and car seat for his dropped bink, and listen to fussing when he accidentally spits it out :)  Such is life!

Garrett's baby hickey

Continuing on the subject of Garrett's love of sucking (is that weird??), we recently discovered a bad habit of his.  While laying his belly, perched on my chest, Garrett sucked contentedly on his forearm.  He was slurping away and I just thought it was so cute.  He did this for probably 15 minutes before I put his in his swing so I could get some cleaning done.  An hour later I noticed a small, purple bruise on Garrett's little arm.  Turns out he gave himself a baby hickey.  Hahaha.  The nurse at our Monday morning weight-check told me I need to dress him in long sleeves so people don't call Children's Services on us.  Seriously?  I just try to keep his arm out of his mouth.  But when I don't and he somehow manages to get it into his mouth, I just smile.  Who knew they even did that? :)