Old Habits

Old Habits

Zoey is now 2 days off the "paci".  I have to say, I thought trying to get her stop using her pacifier was going to be hell.  I thought she was going to kick and scream until she was blue in the face for days.  I shouldn't have underestimated her.  She really is a "big girl" like I've been telling her, and I couldn't be more proud.

Flash back to last weekend.  We celebrate Zoey's 2nd birthday.  She uses the potty for the first time that morning.  She gets a Radio Flyer tricycle and an awesome kitchen set.  She gets tutus and Dora panties.  That's big girl stuff.  Big girls don't use pacifiers.  At this point, Zoey's been using a pacifier only when she sleeps or if she's having a total meltdown or boredom overload in public.  In the mornings, she knows the drill: hand over the paci and it gets placed on the corner of her dresser.

On Monday she gets a note home from school that she's been asking for her pacifier at nap time.  That's a big no.  She hasn't been using one at school for a long time and we definitely don't want to regress.  We decide to kick the habit.  

On Wednesday evening I explain to Zoey that she's not a baby anymore.  She's a big girl.  Big girls don't use pacifiers.  Those are for babies.  I do this gently and with positive reinforcement.  For 2 years she's loved her pacifiers, her constant companion while sleeping.  She's had such a strong bond with them and they've helped her through rough times.  She watches as I throw one of her pacifiers that was in our bathroom into the trashcan in the kitchen.  Near melt-down.  We calm down and I reassure her of how proud I am of her.  Zoey the big girl.  She watches in silence as I throw another pacifier away.  She still gets one at bed time.

Thursday, Zoey is playing in the living room.  I gently remind her of what I said the day before.  Big girl ... paci's are for babies ... I explain that Daddy found another paci in her car and we should throw it away.  She looks up finally and says "Oh!"  She promptly walks over, takes it from me, and throws it into the kitchen trashcan, then resumes playing.  I continue to sit there stunned.  She still gets one at bed time.

Friday morning Zoey is in a good mood.  I get her out of her crib after she shoves her blankies in the corner and she hands me her paci, just like every morning.  I gently remind her of her bigness and how we need to throw her paci away ... she understands ... as deeply as a 2 year old can.  She carriers her paci downstairs with me and she throws that one away too.  That, as far as she knows, was her last paci.  She is showered with praise!

Friday night was the real test.  When bed time came, we read extra books.  She stands up and reaches for the corner of the dresser.  I gently remind her that she's a big girl, and we threw away her paci.  I pick her up so she can see there's nothing at the corner of her dresser.  She's confused and looks around, but soon she realizes it's gone.  Tears and screams.  After lots of TLC and gently rocking, she eventually gets tired enough to sleep.  She wakes up in the middle of the night screaming "PACI!!!", reaching for the corner of the dresser.  TLC and rocking, then back to sleep.

Saturday morning she's happy to see me.  She shoves her blankies over to the corner, but looks around and says "Where's paci?"  "Remember, you're a big girl," I say.  "Oh," long pause "... baby," she says, remembering paci's are for babies.  "That's right!"  She's still happy.

During the day we're out and about.  Several times she routes through her travel diaper bag, removing its contents, and says "paci" repeatedly.  We tell her that we don't have one and repeat the same drill of her bigness.  She's satisfied with finding a baggie of Trix.  At night again it takes her some extra TLC to get to sleep.  She wakes in the middle of the night again, but is able to get back to sleep on her own.

It's Sunday night.  I'm a bit concerned because yesterday and today she had extremely short naps.  Yesterday was 45 minutes and today was 30 minutes, but she normally takes 2 hour naps.  She doesn't seem overly cranky or tired.  I hope she naps well at school tomorrow.  She went to bed easily.  She'll probably wake up in a few hours, though.

I'm amazed at Zoey.  She peed in the potty again today.  She is taking pride in her age and accomplishments.  I'm also sad this is happening so fast!  Maybe she'll read this blog when she's older ... I know I will.

Great job, Zoey!

UPDATE (5/24/11)

Zoey had a pretty rough night.  It took her a good while to get to sleep.  She definitely didn't want to go to bed.  She kept asking for more books but we had read so many already.  She was really upset and I left her in her crib to deal with it.  Poor thing started screeching so I went in to comfort her.  She was so upset it took her a long time to calm down and breathe properly.  She resigned to bed after that.  She woke up several times screaming, looking at her dresser corner but nothing was there.  We'll get through it.  She's still doing really well.

UPDATE (08/18/11)
Yesterday Zoey found an old pacifier in her diaper bag.  It must have been an emergency backup that we never got rid of.  It seems so long ago that we gave them up ... She showed it to me, and I said "Oh, that's for babies."  She promptly returned it to her bag, and she continued playing without a second though.  I was amazed.