{Pacifier Free}

We are officially a pacifier-free household!

Lets start back when Luke started taking a pacifier when he was five months old.  It was such a gift when he finally started taking it and it helped us and him so much his first year.  It helped with sleep, fussy times, when he was sick.  It was BRILLIANT. 

Sometime between 12 and 18 months we started limiting it to just the crib for naptime and bedtime.   We had planned to take it away at two years old, but then decided to wait a little bit.  We had just had Ben and there were lots of other changes (he was staying at my parents house for two weeks due to Ben's ICU stay, etc), so we didn't want to make bedtime harder and turn Luke's world upside down even more.  Then this summer as he approached 2 1/2 years old, I took the pacifier away at naptime.  Luke could only use it at bedtime and he only got one. So if it fell out of the bed at night, that was it.  He didn't get a replacement :). 

With all these changes, Luke handled it very well and it never created any problems.  He pretty much rolled with it.  The last change, where he only got it at nighttime, seemed to be the only hiccup.  When he got in his crib for naptime, he would ask for it and whimper a little bit.  When I said no, he got over it rather quickly and would fall asleep.  

But as the months rolled by, I knew...it was time.  We waited way later than I thought we would and I knew he did not need it anymore.  I was starting to think about it constantly and I was so worried about how it would be when we did it.  I had heard really bad stories of how kids really struggled when they had to give it up, so I was fearing the worst. 

Truth be told...I think I was more dependent on it than Luke was.  And the truth came out.  I was.  He was not.

When he demanded to be moved to his big boy bed in September, we gave him his pacifier the first night since I was so worried about this change and him sleeping well in his new environment.  But the next night, I just didn't say anything and waited for him to ask for it.  He never did.  And he hasn't once since that night.  So we are pacifier-free!

It was the easiest transition ever -- along with the big boy bed!  Now onto potty training.  I think I might just wait for him to do that himself as well :).

{Paci stash in Luke's sock drawer that I still haven't thrown out}