Yesterday Jeremy came home all gung-ho to help Reilly get rid of his pacifiers. We've been tentatively planning to do it around his 3rd birthday (that's in a month) but I have just been dragging my feet because I KNEW it was going to be hard and slightly traumatic for him. It's the only thing he's really attached to, and it's been that way since he was tiny. Here he is at about 6 months old:
For the last year he's only had them for sleeping or long car rides (read: hoping he'll sleep) but he's still super attached to the things. The last several days at bedtime I've started telling him that he is a big boy now (potty training is awesome - he hasn't had an accident in 3 days now!) and that soon he won't need his pacifier to sleep anymore. He has consistently changed the subject at that point...
Anyway, yesterday we decided that the best option was to help him gather them up and take them to Toys 'R Us (his absolute favorite store) and throw them away in exchange for a toy he really wanted. He was all excited about the idea when Daddy explained it to him, and didn't even want to wait to eat dinner (we made him do that anyway).
Here he is in the car on the way to Toys 'R Us:
He looked at all sorts of toys and played with Thomas the Train (they have a nice table set up at the newly renovated Toys 'R Us/Babies 'R Us in town) for quite a while:
Then he got serious about picking something that would be worth pacifiers. He always loves the little Schleich animals they have at TRU and Target. We like them too - they are very realistic, nice quality, and always well-balanced (which is important to toddlers that want everything to stand up easily):
After picking out 11 of the baby animals (they are cheaper), he excitedly handed them up to "the lady" and gave her his pacifiers to throw away:
He remained excited the rest of the evening:
At least until bedtime, when we tucked him in with a baby elephant, his drink, and his beanie horse, and he asked for a pacifier. Then there was a re-explanation and about 20 minutes of crying (not by himself - Daddy stayed with him), followed by the last half of "Meet the Robinsons" with Mommy and Daddy, followed by getting tucked back in with ALL of his animals this time, followed by several songs, 3 potty breaks, and a snack. And about 10 (we started at 8:15) he finally fell asleep. It was so sad to hear him crying "like his best friend had died" - Jeremy. In some ways, it was true. At one point he needed to back to Toys 'R Us and get them, and he needed us to "wipe them off" (he got it in his head that they were dirty and yucky and that's one reason we were throwing them away) and he was just inconsolable. But when we went down to watch the movie and gave him all the animals again, he seemed to make the connection and after that he didn't cry. He asked for it one more time, and it took a bit of time and some exhaustion to get to sleep, but he did it, and slept all night. Let's hope tonight is a little easier. I'm sure it will still be hard. It will be nice to not have to rely on them, but it's still sad. Growing up hurts sometimes.
14 comments:
Ohh that makes me sad. It is hard to make them grow up. I lucked out and neither of mine has taken a pacifier. Britt was attached to the Sippy cup. That was our hard one. Glad potty training is going good. GOod luck tonight. Hope it goes better:)
:( It is never fun to take stuff like that away. Every night will get better though. I am sure by the end of the week everything will be peachy
Glad the potty training is going well...and the pacifier training. Good luck. I hope tonight goes well for you!
I love the new backdrop, with the new pictures in the frames, it is really cute. I am glad the potty training is going well! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope he can get to sleep faster tonight! What a good idea to have him exchange the pacifiers for toys, and to have the cashier at the store throw them away. Smart thinking! I can't believe how fast Reilly is growing up!
That is the cutest story. You'll have fun repeating it when he is older :) We just took Kimble's paci's away too...its been about 4 days. Each day gets easier, thankfully :)
wow, thats like my little boy. hes so attached at nighttime to them. i learned a trick i'm trying from my friend, she snips a little off the end each day. i've only snipped one time, and andrew sort of looked at it funny when he sucked on it, but we'll see. good luck!!!
Poor little boy! Good thing he sleeps in a different room than Jaina or he'd probably steal hers. (:
Way to be cleaver with the toys r' us. I like that alot better than "the dog ate your pacifier" (;
Awe poor riley. Love the pictures of him picking out his toy though haha he was very into that. Great idea too!
SO sad. We got rid of Kenna's on easter. She would not leave it in her basket for the Easter Bunny to take, but he still left her a surprise Princess set that she could only get when she gave up her binky. Right there she wanted to give it up, so Denny took the scissors and had HER cut the tip of her binky. She played with her princess, but come time for bed she wanted her binky. We gave it to her, but she couldn't suck on it. She was pretty upset then and it took a couple of days to get over it, but it does pass.
good luck and great job!
you're an awesome mommy (((hugs)))
Wow, I had no idea that so many people read your blog. What a sad story! You are right that growing up hurts sometimes, but good job easing the pain. :)
I got rid of Beckie's when she was 5 months, and Britt never took one, but Briggs is my third and I'm not as strict or bookwise I guess! At 10 months he is really attached to his. We'll see how long I let him have it. He doesn't sleep very good at night and I wonder if I took it away if he'd do better. But I'm not ready for that battle! Good job with having him hand them to the lady. That was brilliant!
Poor guy but hooray! Have any suggestions for finger sucking? ;)
I have to do this with the twins. Well Thomas. But Nicholas uses his thumb.. so I feel bad taking the pacifier away from one when the other one has access to his thumb~!
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