It's so hard to say good-bye

Good-bye to the 'paci' that is! I am so proud of my little lady - we are well on our way to being paci-free! Leah has been a hard core user for the past two years. She would 'need' it before bed and always ask for it when she was upset or needed comfort. We've been trying to ween her off of it for the past few months, but haven't had much luck. She would cry. She would throw a fit. It was as if she was going through withdrawal and had to have it and we would give in. I didn't want to her to be that kid that is 4 years old walking around the store with a pacifier glued to her mouth.

We refused to buy any more pacifiers. We decided once they were gone, they were gone. We would be down to two, but then two more would reappear. (She would constantly lose them and then they would show up - behind the couch, in her toy bins or behind her crib). Over the past two weeks, she was teething horribly getting in her two year molars. She was gnawing on anything she could get her mouth on, including her beloved paci's. She chewed them to the point that there were holes in them. I had to take them away and tell her they were broken. She had chewed through 3 pacifiers and we only had one remaining! Sure enough, she bit through the last one and we had to tell her that was it.

The first night didn't go so well. She was visibly upset and kept asking for it. I kept telling her they were all gone and she refused to accept it. Tears were flowing for a very long time. I showed her the broken paci's and she said all she wanted to do was hold it. I decided there wasn't any harm in letting her 'hold' it. Baby steps. She layed down for bed and kept the paci in her little hand almost all night. When she woke up in the morning it was laying peacefully next to her. We got ready the next morning and left for daycare. She always asks for the pacifier when we make our short drive to school. This time she just asked if she could hold it. She was definitely making progress. Once we pulled up, she gave it to me and I tucked it away in my pocket. She did great at her first day at school without her paci. She went down for her afternoon nap without incident and we have now been paci-free for the past 3 nights. She will still occasionally ask for it, but I quickly remind her that they are all broken. She seems to have come to terms with it because she says "OK" and carries on about her business.

I am so proud of her! It is actually going better than I anticipated. I just hope she doesn't relapse when the new baby arrives! We'll just continue to praise her and tell her what a big girl she is! She takes it to heart and I think it makes her feel good!