To "B" or NOT to "B"

So at our house...we have an on-going dilemma. It has to do with the "B". (i.e. binky, paci, mam, etc.)

When we brought Ryan home from the hospital after he was born, we popped a binky in his mouth. Why? Because he was crying - and this little plastic thing was a "miracle worker!" Being new parents meant that we'd try anything, and this was one that worked.

Fast forward 2 years later. The "B" is now a play thing. The "B" is now a weapon during a tantrum. The "B" is now a source of contention. The "B" is also a source of aggravation and frustration! "I can't find his "B" means panic on the part of mom and dad. But it's also a "miracle worker" still...for Megan.

Ryan was the one who started calling it a "B" - most likely because he couldn't say binky and it was the first letter he heard when we s.p.e.l.l.e.d. it! This kid HAS to go to bed or take a nap with "2 B's" - he throws a fit if he doesn't have one in his mouth and the other in his hand. In fact, if we let him, he'd probably carry around every "B" in the house! (If we could find them that is...see below.)

So what do we do? Of course, I don't want it to ruin his teeth (do they still do that?) or his speech. Though he's pretty good at enunciating with it in his mouth, we do make him take it out to talk to us. (There's another thing you hear at our house all day..."lose the "B" Ryan" or "take the "B" out of your mouth when you talk to me.") The other thing I've noticed is that because his mouth is opened a little when he has the "B", he still drools - even without it! (Yuck!) When the "B" finally goes away, will that stop?

We do - for the most part - ask him to leave it on the table as we go out. He's really well behaved when he's in control of that, knowing that it will be there when we get back home. BUT, the problem them comes when he's in his car seat and he steals Megan's "B" - arrrrgh! Now my son is a little thief...and Meg is screaming!

I guess it's good that it's not his thumb - right now anyway. There are worse things to be attached to, right?

None of this would be frustrating at all to us if Ryan didn't lose them all over the house! Right now, I can count 4 "B's" that are currently missing in action. A bright blue one, a white one, a bright green one, and a light purple one. (I know we lost the light yellow one the last time we went for a haircut at Snip-It's.) The count would have been 5, but I just got an email from Ric saying that he found the bright purple one! Can you believe that we send emails about these things - and that we get excited about the fact that we found one too?

I'd LOVE for all of us to suffer and go cold turkey, but I don't think that Ric and I have the will-power to do it! (hehe) Ryan and Megan would probably pull through just fine - after the initial chaos/war/gloom and doom was over!

What to do....any suggestions would be appreciated!