I was honestly beginning to wonder if we'd ever manage to get rid of it. He was VERY attached to his pacifiers. They have been crib-only since he was about 5 or 6 months old, and he would eagerly go in there to nap or sleep because he knew it meant he could have his pacifiers. He usually had one in his mouth and 2 in each hand. Even though 4 of the 5 were identical, he could tell by mouth feel which was which. In the dark, if you gave him one, he would turn around and tell you, "No. Blue pafowah." (There were 2 blue ones. He could tell them apart. We still can't figure out the differences between them.)
In the end, it was a trip to Tootsie and Pop's house that did it. (That also worked to get Dexter using the potty last summer. I am OK with this trend.)
The first night there, he asked for the pacifiers. I told him, "Tootsie doesn't have any pacifiers." The little negotiator held up his empty hands and said, "Only 2 pafawahs." There was more negotiating, but he ended up going to sleep without them without much fuss, probably because he was so exhausted from being awake and pretty much constantly running around from 7am until 9pm.
The second night, he slept in the big bed at Tootsie's house. He knows there are no pacifiers in big boy beds. Again, his exhaustion helped us along a little.
There were a couple of HORRIBLE nights in there that probably would have been remedied with a pacifier, but by then, we weren't going back.
We decided that he would come home to a big boy bed and that would be the end of it. (I feel like this post should be more about his graduation to a big boy bed. But the pacifier thing is really much more exciting.) He hasn't asked for a pacifier since the weekend.
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| The big boy bed. Yes, it's a mattress on the floor. Falling out is still an issue. |
The downside is that Dexter and Desmond both LOVED hiding under that crib. It was a source of much entertainment. Eventually, their beds will be off the floor, and they'll be able to have fun like that again. Hopefully they won't have outgrown such things (physically or intellectually) by then.
Overall, I think we're all still adjusting. He's only been in his own big boy bed for 4 nights. Last night, he went to sleep at about 10:00, woke up at 11:45 to get himself some milk from the fridge, then woke up again at 1:30 to get more milk from the fridge, then again at 4:30 - more milk and then settled in our bed.
Hopefully multiple nighttime wakings will phase out quickly, and we'll all finally be on the road to more and better sleep. It's been more than 3 years since we've done that consistently, so it really is time.
YAY for big boy beds and YAY for no more pacifiers and hopefully a big YAY for less orthodontia in the future. So proud of my big boy.
