We told her for weeks that she'd have to give it up at some point, but we would wait until she was ready. We showed her pictures of "pacifier teeth" in google images. She'd always get concerned about "those fire teeth."
Then, I remembered how successful the big bed was, because we read a book about it. So I found a couple books: "Bye bye binky" and "Pacifiers aren't forever." We didn't make a big deal about it. Just read the books as we would any other book. Then we changed the subject.
On day 5, she said she wanted to get rid of her paci. I was shocked and offered to put it inside the feet of a build a bear, so she could still hold it. She said, "no mama, I want to put it in the trash." (The book mentions it going in the trash). She did and slept fine that night.
I, however, felt so sad about her pacis (the things she loved most in the whole world) being in the trash. A couple of her friends had the pacifier fairy come trade the pacis for a gift. So I wrote a note from the fairy about how she was taking the two pacis to babies who didn't have any pacis and they would be loved by the babies. And I left a candy necklace and an Olaf puzzle.
I should have known .... "How did that fairy get inside my house?" Umm, she didn't, she dug through the trash outside. "Were they girl babies or boy babies?" One of each? "I wanted them to go to girl babies." Girls, definitely girls.
Our little skeptic went to school where everyone cheered for her, and shared their own experiences of what the paci fairy brought them. She was a believer! And told everyone she ran into.
We told her we were so proud of her that we would get her a present at Target (anything she wanted!) on Saturday (a few days away). The next night was hard. But I reminded her about the target gift, which helped. And the book says for them to do something to keep their mouth busy like kissing stuffed animals. She asked the next couple of nights, but never asked again! And slept fine.
When we were headed to Target she said, "I'm going to pick out a real live bunny!" Dan goes, "Thank god you said 'at Target.'" She found a $72 dollar car that was for a doll we didn't own. After pushing it all around the store, I finally convinced her the $10 bubble machine was SO cool and we headed home with that.
I am so proud of her and how this was a non-event. Thank goodness for books that give her ideas that didn't come from mom and dad. ;)
Yay! Those pacifiers are tricky! We didn't get rid of my son's until a few weeks after he turned 3. I was a little embarrassed because all my friend's kids were rid of theirs before 2, but I just felt so bad for my little guy. He loved it SO much and for the longest time he only had it for bedtime so I didn't want to take the thing that comforted him. We also had a second baby and I didn't want him to feel like taking it away was associated in some way with getting a brother. Eventually we used his pacifiers to buy a monster truck at the store. We had talked about it for weeks and one day he just woke up and asked to do it! Funny how they just let us know when they're ready :) I hadn't thought of finding books about them! I'll have to remember that for next time. Congrats to your sweet girl!
ReplyDeleteWhat a big girl! Yay Olivia! I was floored when taking L's paci away wasn't the life changing ordeal I thought it'd be. She was really a paci lover- I was a little scared haha. My mom says she's never napped as well since losing the paci, but I think she does fine. ha
ReplyDeleteYay Olivia!! It was SO HARD to get Olive to quit her pacis because she loved those things! We moved around so much when she was tiny that we let her keep them longer than we should have for some extra comfort. It made it a little easier when it was her idea - her started breaking and she hated sucking on them. Fletcher hated pacis from the start and would just throw them. So I guess these cute little #2s are going to do things their own way. Smart thinking on those quick answers about the paci fairy. Nothing gets past Olivia :)
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