Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Kiss the Pacifier Good-Bye

For awhile now, Nate has been chewing on his paci's. With Maddie and all the changes that have happened, I didn't want to take away the one thing (besides his blankie) that he loves the most--yes, even more than mom and dad. So, I've been buying new paci's often to replace the chewed up paci so he doesn't choke on the pieces. I thought that by only giving him the paci at sleepy-times that he wouldn't chew up, or at least as fast. Well, he has been and we've been talking about getting rid of them but never find the "right" time to do it. That time came on Saturday.

It all started when Nate kicked Michael and so he took his paci away (standard punishment procedure). When the time came to get it back, Nate was still crying and screaming for it. We told him to stop and say please. He refused. Over and over. Thirty minutes into it (and in complete meltdown mode) I decided that this was it. I was not about to do this again. And since he wasn't giving in and neither were we (how hard is it to say please, for crying out loud!) the paci was gone. I brought him up to bed for his nap and there he carried on for another 30 minutes, finally falling asleep. It was very difficult not to give in. This was probably one of the worst meltdowns I have ever seen from him. His poor little eyes were red and swollen from crying so hard. I wanted to give it back so badly. All I could think is, just say please!

That was Saturday and now it is Tuesday. We have had some smooth and not so smooth bedtimes. I showed him the top of the fridge (where we kept them) and told him that they were all gone. He seemed to understand that but wasn't happy about it. I think he has done a good job so far, and even with the meltdowns, it could have been and could continue to be worse. He hasn't stolen Maddie's paci and today was the first day he hasn't asked for it for his nap. And of course, you know me, part of me is sad that my baby boy is leaving one more baby thing behind.

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