Bye Bye Pacifier

They're gone, the pacifiers are gone! I, for one, am excited. Sophia, on the other hand, not so much.

I have been trying for over a year to remove all pacifiers from my house, without success. When I first suggested it, Ernie said that Sophia was too young and it would be too traumatic for her, so we waited. Then we actually tried it once, to no avail. Sophia was so stubborn, she literally wouldn't sleep without it. (And for those who don't know, I am not a softie when it comes to Sophia's sleep habits. I let her cry.) Out of concern for her health and general well-being, I gave in and gave the pacifier back.

This time, we decided that the time was right for Sophia to lose the paci. She has only used it for sleeping, car rides, and illness for quite awhile now. Often, she loses it in her sleep and couldn't care less. And she is old enough to understand what is happening. We decided to wait until after our vacation (we really wanted it for the airplane and to avert meltdowns - and we were glad we waited!) and for a 3-day weekend (so Sophia would be over any withdrawals by the time my mom was in charge).

We prepped her for about a week. We read a book about it. Sophia noticed a baby in a store who was crying and declared that said baby needed a paci. We talked about sending her pacifiers to babies who needed them, like the baby in the store. Ernie took a great opportunity on Friday to gather her pacifiers (well, the ones he could find) and have her put them in an envelope. Then they walked to the mailbox and put them in the mail. She was so proud of herself!

Then bedtime came. She wailed for an hour, but then was asleep. It was a terrible hour, but we all made it through it. The next day at naptime, she cried for her paci for about 15 minutes before giving up and going to sleep. Again at bedtime Saturday, she whined for a bit, and then fell asleep.

Then naptime on Sunday came. She had a meltdown. Not about the pacifier though - she wanted "jam jams" for naptime. I calmly explained that no, we don't wear jam jams for naptime, only bedtime. Well, she LOST IT. She went from sweet Sophia to devil-spawn in 0.3 seconds. I don't know if I have ever heard her cry like that before. It truly was a bit scary.

Now the pacifier is but a distant memory. I just hope that the other memories of Sophia's baby-hood do not become too distant too soon.