The Binky Thief

Sam  gave up his super-size binkies a few months ago, around the
time that he turned four.  We had upgraded from the regular binkies when he was a year or two, because he was stuffing them wholeheartedly into his mouth, so for a long time he had teething pacifiers that were huge.  Then they were discontinued.  The manufacturers for some reason stopped producing them, and at last search, they were seriously going for $25 a pop.  It was understood when these binkies were lost or broken, they would be gone and not replaced.  So they came to a timely end, when one-by-one, they started to break slightly in the rubber nipple piece, and according to Sam, were no longer comfortable to suck.  He gave them up a little reluctantly, with few tears, (one bad night of an hour crying before bed) and that was that.  We still have two that are around the house that he holds occasionally for comfort.

Sam's relinquished binky

Meanwhile, Vivian still takes the baby pacifiers, and falls asleep with one, and to go back to sleep puts one back in her mouth and dozes back off.  Well these have been disappearing left and right.  I have even replaced a few lately.  Chris and I try to put her down with at least five in the crib, so we don't have to be disturbed in the night when she wakes up and can't find one.  There have been several nights lately where I have been crawling around on the floor between the hours of 11pm and 4 am, tearing apart the crib and not locating a single binky.  Chris and I then accuse each other of losing them and subsequently not putting her down with them.
On two recent mornings, I have spotted a binky in Sam's bed.  On further inspection, I found several binkies stored in and around Sam's bed.  Like under his pillow, by the headboard, under blankets, stuffed animals, etc.  The stinker has been stealing his sister's binkies from her crib (I'd like to think not directly from her mouth).  Chris and I confronted him this morning:

Vivian's binkies

"Sam, how did Vivian's binky get from her crib to your mouth?"
"Um… magic?"

So we have had conversations over the course of the day around the theme of not taking his sister's binkies from her crib, that he is a big boy, that he gets other things she doesn't ("but that's not fair mom, she gets binkies ALL the time"), and finally, if he took one more binky, they were all going up high on a cabinet that no one could reach (not sure how this was even relevant to him but it resinated).

The most frustrating part might be that he must have stealthily crept across to her crib, taking the binky, which woke her, then myself, then Chris, by which time Sam was back in his bed sleeping soundly!  When the rest of us were bleary-eyed in the morning arguing about why the baby wasn't sleeping, Sam was snoozing peacefully in his bed.  We shall see what tonight brings...