Paci

Well, I wasn't sure this day would ever come, but I think my baby Ivy is done with her paci! Last Thursday I took her to the grocery store when she was very tired. Chris was home and I had a feeling she would fall asleep if I didn't take her somewhere which would totally mess up bedtime! So I brought her to the store with me and I let her bring her paci in because I knew how tired she was and that it would be easier on me if she had it. During our shopping trip, the lady at the deli counter asked her if she wanted some lunch meat to sample and at that point she must have taken paci out and dropped it through the cart! We got to the car and I realized it wasn't with us. It was our last one and it was hanging on by a thread...Chris thought it was a choking hazard and it probably was!

That night at bedtime she asked for it about 100 times, but we eventually got her to sleep. The next morning she came downstairs and didn't say a word about it! In the days since then she has asked for it several times, but only once or twice each time and then gets distracted with other things. I think most of the time she asks for it out of habit. Blankey/Paci are one in the same to her so when she asks for her blankey, it just comes out. I realize this should have been done months, maybe even years ago, but it was so hard! I don't know if it's because she's my baby (and she lets me treat her like a baby so I do:), or if it's because it makes my life so much easier, but I sure had a hard time making her get rid of it!

In hindsight, there were a couple of times I should have gotten rid of it. I read her 1 year old blog recently and at that point I wrote that she could "take it or leave it most of the day" with the paci. THAT'S when I should have taken it away. And then also at 18 months when she knocked her two front teeth loose, we had to get rid of it for a few days and I GAVE IT BACK TO HER!! WHAT WAS I THINKING??!??!

The good thing to come out of this is that now I won't have to warn people that she still has a paci! I felt like I was always making excuses for her:) Also, I will never judge someone for letting their kid have a paci, suck their thumb, etc....no matter the age. I swear...even if your kid has a pacifier at age 7, you won't hear any "you don't need that paci, you're a big boy/girl" from me! Just a couple of days ago Chris leaned over to me in the car and gave me a high five. We hardly talked about the fact that she didn't have it anymore (almost for fear of jinxing it) but eventually we got to the point that we knew there was no going back! Phew! That was hard work:)

Now...a few of my favorite pictures of Ivy with her beloved paci:) There are 100's more where these came from!