Pacifier Predicament

Jacob was born screaming and he didn't quit crying until he was about 6 months old.  The only thing that soothed him was being held while someone walked.  You couldn't sit and rock him, unless he was falling asleep.  He had to be held upright, head on your shoulder, being paced from one end of the house to the other.  I practically begged him to take a pacifier, but he just spit it out.  He had no interest.  I will never forget the day he found his thumb.  He slid his open hand down the side of his face and his thumb just happened to pop into his mouth.  He started sucking and our prayers were answered.  Initially, I didn't care about the thumb sucking.  It was cute and it soothed him.  Then I worried for a little while about how I was going to break him of the habit, but he really was never inappropriate with the thumb sucking.  As he got older, he only sucked it in bed or when he was watching TV.  I never, not once, had to tell him to take his thumb out of his mouth in public.  I think he still sucks his thumb from time to time, but not often.  I don't even notice him doing it when I check on him at night.  I think that's pretty awesome, since I sucked my finger until I was in like 10th grade (OK, 6th, but still!)

Andrew, on the contrary, was the happiest and most content newborn I have ever known.  He took that binkie in the hospital and cheerfully sucked away.  When we brought him home from the hospital, he never fussed, as long as he had his binkie.  He was so good, in fact, that I actually called my mother more than once wondering if she thought something was terribly wrong with him!  As a newborn, he would sit so serenely watching everything around him that I would almost forget he was there.  I would check on him, and suddenly realize that he was sound asleep!  He slept everywhere, any time.  He even fell asleep while I was changing his diapers!  He slept through the night at 6 weeks old and, aside from a few disruptions while teething, has been a wonderful sleeper ever since.  As long as he has that binkie, he is golden.  

But, he's almost 4 years old now, and he still has the binkie.  I have tried to take it from him several times without success.  (Yes, I am aware that the failure is my fault, not his.)  I should have taken it when he was one, when I took the bottle.  The transition from bottle to cup went amazingly smoothly and I should have taken advantage of the opportunity to break the habit while he was old enough to self soothe, but young enough not to remember the trauma of the adaptation.  But I didn't, and he's still sucking.  The professional in me says that I need to just bite the bullet and take the darn thing.  I am certain it is the cause of his crazy teeth and his lisp.   I have told him that I am not buying any more binkies and that we are going to take what's left of his binks to Santa so that Santa can give them to the babies who need them.  He agrees with me when I say it, but we tried giving the binkie to Santa last year.  By 4 a.m. Christmas morning, after 25 episodes of crying out and begging for a binkie, we returned them to their rightful position in Andrew's mouth!   If one of the parents I worked with told me these stories, I would empathize, but tell them that they just need to stay strong, stick to their guns and take the pacifier.  4 is too old to be sucking on a binkie.  

But the mom in me says he doesn't take it any time other than in bed.  He doesn't walk around with it all day, and as long as we break the habit before his adult teeth start to come in, what's the harm?  Even if his adult teeth are crooked, don't most kids need braces these days anyway?  And when again in his life will finding comfort be as simple as sucking on a pacifier?  He's my baby, my last little one.  Do I really need to be hard and take the binkie or am I being too soft because he's the baby?  It's not going to cause some kind of long term adult dysfunction if I let him suck it for a little while longer, is it?  Do I have to take it from him because I already told him I was going to?  I try very hard not to say things that I can't follow through with, but this is one thing that I repeatedly cave on.  Am I undermining my own parenting or is it not that big of a deal, since I am consistent elsewhere?  Opinions?  Advice?  Suggestions?  I could use some.