Bye Bye Paci

Our big girl will be 2 years old in one month, it is time for the paci to go. Since her 1st Birthday she has only used it when she sleeps but she LOVES it. Not only does she have one in her mouth but she held one in each hand too. SO, I pretty much had to take away her comfort item. I would never think about taking Jacob's blankie away, well that's pretty much what I had to do to poor Anna.

I've heard of people packaging them up and having their child actually give them to a baby they knew. Made sense to me. Anna's a little mommy and we know tons of new babies.
But......... Anna being Anna I was afraid she would still hold a grudge against that poor baby in 15 years. Seems wrong to ruin a child's high school days because Anna is bullying them about something they didn't even know they were a part of :)
SO no tricks, just told her that big girls don't need paci's and tried to force a blankie or stuffed animal on her to hold.

Nap #1 - She screamed for an hour that she wanted her paci, I mean SCREAMED!!! Anna knows what she wants and she wanted her PACI!! She finally screamed herself to sleep on the couch, wore herself OUT.

Night #1 - No screaming. She is so verbal that I can actually talk to her and reason with her. We talked about it all afternoon. Going to bed she told me she was a big girl and big girls don't have paci's they have blankie's like Jacob who is a big boy. Kind of tricked me, I gave myself a pat on the back and decided I was in the middle of a HUGE parental accomplishment, the fastest paci removal ever. Not so much. After all the talk and "understanding" every time she crawled in bed those little hands would search her pillow for her pacis which were always sitting there waiting for her (all 3). No screams, just sadness. She seemed a little lost, it was really pitiful. SO after 2.5 hours of rocking, talking, singing, in and out of bed she finally fell asleep. Then woke up an hour later and took another hour to get to sleep. Mom's tired.

Nap #2 - After 2 quick tries she fell asleep. Yes, I realize this is directly related to the fact that she lost so much sleep the night before.

Night #2 - Took 2 hours but once she was down she never got up.

I'm considering the worst to be over. I'm so proud of her, she's so grown. I can't believe 2 is right around the corner, such a big girl. The word Paci is now forbidden at our house. Lets hope an innocent child doesn't get tackled the next time we're out and see someone with a beloved paci :)