Hey! I have an idea!
How about I regale you with yet another tale about my kid?
Last Fall we managed to break Henry of the binky habit, but then he came down with his first bout of cold-induced asthma (although we didn't know what it was at the time) and the only way we could get him to stop his coughing long enough to fall asleep was by giving him back his binky. Then came a few other colds and more asthma attacks and soon we weren't thinking about how to break him of his binky habit at all anymore because it was turning out to be pretty useful.
Then came the first really bad day of this latest cold. Naptime came around and I told Henry to grab his binky and sleepyhat and we'd head upstairs. He said "No. No binky. No sleepyhat." My first thought was that this was going to turn into a way to procrastinate going to bed once we got upstairs, but the joke was on me. He let me tuck him in, turn off all the lights, and close the door, with nary a peep about running back downstairs to grab the hat and binky. And so it went that night, and the next naptime, and still I was completely blown away that he had made this decision on his own and was following through.
Then last night I came home from walking the dog and all I could hear was Henry yelling "AAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" nonstop from his bedroom. I asked Dave what was going on and he said he had no idea. I ran upstairs, opened the door, and instantly the yelling stopped and Henry just looked at me, totally calm. We talked for a little bit then I asked him if he wanted his binky or sleepyhat and he said he didn't. As soon as I closed the door: "AAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" So I opened it again and stuck my head in and instantly he was quiet. I left the door open a crack and went downstairs. As soon as I got downstairs: "AAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"
This went on for a while so Dave went up. Then he came back down and Henry started yelling again. We didn't bother going back up. We decided this was some weird way of settling himself down to fall asleep. A little bit later it was quiet. Around three in the morning he woke up coughing a bit, but then fell back to sleep after having a drink of water. Then at 4:45 he woke up again coughing so I gave him some albuterol and he fell asleep again.
I think we'll be taking an early nap today.