One small step for a boy, One giant leap for my Drew

I have some major news to report. We are now a paci-free zone!!! In the words of one of the Little Einsteins, "I CAN-NOT BE-LIEVE IT!" Any of you who have known Drew since birth, like I have, know that he came out searching for a paci and has been passionately in love with them ever since. You may wonder what would possess me to break up a love affair like this one. Am I just the meanest mom ever? Maybe. But not over this.

We have LOTS of life changes coming up. This needed to be done, and like learning to use the potty, I'm sure it's a little trauma he won't remember. I'm banking on it. We've been talking about it for some time now. And the main thing that pushed me over the line of fear was the day he took a nap at Katy's with no paci. Basically, if we go to Katy's I need to plan to stay there for no less than 4 days. He loves her and he loves it there and falls apart any time we have to leave. On the aforementioned day, I had planned to bring him home for a nap. He always naps better at home. But he would have none of it. He wanted to nap in Katy's bed. So, I said to him, "If you stay here to nap, you'll have no pacis." I was FOR SURE he would beg to go home. Nope. So, Katy's bed with no pacis it was. And he did great! Without knowing it, he sealed his paci fate that day!

Our method of giving them up involved trading them in for a special toy. He used his pacis to purchase a big wheel. A Batman big wheel with lights and sounds. After he deliberated between the Batman "motorcycle" and the Cars "motorcycle", we took our selection to the counter and he plunked his baggie of pacis up there to "pay". Oh how I wish you could have seen the look on the cashier's face. He was approximately 17 years old, and had definitely never seen the likes of this little charade before. To his credit, he played along really well. He did sort of just hold the bag of pacis awkwardly until I said, "You can just put those in the t-r-a-s-h." Drew did not miss a beat. He did not cry or second guess his purchase. He just marched proudly out of the store, ready to practice pedaling with Daddy.

Since then he's done pretty great. He still asks for them at sleeping times, but doesn't get overly upset about not having them. He is learning to put himself to sleep without them, which usually consists of his other favorite thing-talking! But, each time he goes down, the time he is chatting to himself gets shorter and shorter.

We also got a "Big Boy Cake" to celebrate the milestone and to celebrate what a great job he's been doing with the potty.





My baby is not a baby any more. I'm sad. But, I'm happy that he is growing into such a great little kid!! Time will tell how many pacis he will steal from baby sister!