Let me start by saying, that I was totally prepared to send Miss Kelly off to College with her “Paci”. You know…binky, paci, lovey, num num (don’t ask, but I think a name like that has to do with you not being able to understand a word they say with that darn thing in their mouths!), whatever you happen to call it.
I have fondly known it as the item that ruins all pictures. It’s the tiny little thing that gets my heart racing, if I don’t readily see one available. I had quietly accepted, that my daughter’s dependence was way beyond the rational needs of “Honey you’re 25, don’t you think it’s time to give up the paci”? I had already started researching for 12 step programs. Talking to other mommy’s of “addicts”.
All that said…drum roll please, the dreaded “paci” is gone. Yes, gone! Kaput, nil, lost to all eternity, never to be seen again. I don’t really know how we managed to get our whiny, tempermental, big attitude little miss to give it up and not even cry one night.
What had been happening, as of late, was that she had been chewing holes in the silicone part of the pacifier. Now that she has molars, this had become the chew toy. Not the sucking, comforting aid it was originally used as. So after the need for replacements coming faster and faster, I decided I would make her start throwing them out herself after she had chewed the holes in them.
So a few weeks ago, Little Miss had to throw away the paci she had been walking around with into the kitchen trash. No fit…things looked good. That night as I was putting her in her crib with her blanky, she asked for “paci”. I calmly and oh so innocently said “Oh honey, there is no more paci, it had to go in the trash. Remember ?!?”
I waited. I waited for what I knew was coming…an all out fit of rage and terror, shock and awe, she was gonna blow!
But, she just said “trash? I put it in trash?” “Yes” I said, “yes you did”. “Oh, o.k.” And on we went with the rest of our “night-night” routine.
It has since been a couple of weeks since we said goodbye to the paci. She has asked a few times, almost inquisitively, about her paci…but it just takes a gentle reminder of “there are no more paci’s” and she is content.
All that said…drum roll please, the dreaded “paci” is gone. Yes, gone! Kaput, nil, lost to all eternity, never to be seen again. I don’t really know how we managed to get our whiny, tempermental, big attitude little miss to give it up and not even cry one night.
What had been happening, as of late, was that she had been chewing holes in the silicone part of the pacifier. Now that she has molars, this had become the chew toy. Not the sucking, comforting aid it was originally used as. So after the need for replacements coming faster and faster, I decided I would make her start throwing them out herself after she had chewed the holes in them.
So a few weeks ago, Little Miss had to throw away the paci she had been walking around with into the kitchen trash. No fit…things looked good. That night as I was putting her in her crib with her blanky, she asked for “paci”. I calmly and oh so innocently said “Oh honey, there is no more paci, it had to go in the trash. Remember ?!?”
I waited. I waited for what I knew was coming…an all out fit of rage and terror, shock and awe, she was gonna blow!
But, she just said “trash? I put it in trash?” “Yes” I said, “yes you did”. “Oh, o.k.” And on we went with the rest of our “night-night” routine.
It has since been a couple of weeks since we said goodbye to the paci. She has asked a few times, almost inquisitively, about her paci…but it just takes a gentle reminder of “there are no more paci’s” and she is content.
Now here's my little secret. I am like a smoker who just quit smoking, I still haven’t quite gotten rid of “my stash”. So for the love of all that is peaceful and holy in my house...don't tell her!
xoxo ~L
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