No more pootie!

Most of you know that Abel was very attached to his pootie (pacifier). Ever since he was a year old, I have been thinking that I need to get rid of it. I thought that maybe he would outgrow it, and then I wouldn't have to be the bad guy that takes it away from him. He really only needed it when he went down for his nap and at bedtime, so I justified it because he wasn't walking around all day with it.

In January, Abel had his two year appointment with the pediatrician. I mentioned that he still used it to get to sleep, and he said that I really should try to get rid of it. He told me a story of how one mom did it, and I was ready for any suggestions. This particular mom told her child that the mama squirrel in their back yard just had some babies, and they were back in the nest needing some pacifiers. She put them all in a bag, set them out on her porch, and left them for the mama squirrel. I listened, but all the while thinking, "There is no way that Abel is going to fall for this....it will be a disaster".

On the way home, I decided that I was just going to bite the bullet and do it. No giving in...take it away and deal with whatever comes. Right in the car, I began telling him about the baby squirrels, and that tonight we were going to give them his pooties. He just listened but didn't say much.

All day long, we talked about giving his pooties away. He started talking more about it, and didn't seem upset. All along I thought that at bedtime, he was going to lose it. We packaged them up, and set them on the deck for the mama squirrel. He seemed excited.

He asked for it once at bedtime, and we told him the story again. That night actually went pretty well. About this same time, he learned to get out of his crib. So that just added a new layer to bedtime. Threatening to take his pootie away was what kept him in his crib, now we had nothing.

The first few weeks were rough at bedtime. He only asked for his pootie a few more times, and then told us that the mama squirrel took them. He was ok with that, but had a hard time settling himself down. He is much better now, but is still quite the staller at bedtime. He always calls for me, and when I go in there, he just says "ummm...", or he wants to play with his trains, or go outside, or go to McDonald's...anything to get me back in there. And there lies our sweet little Dane who goes to bed so well....

Dane is still in his toddler bed, and Eric and I have talked about getting them some bunk beds. We may keep the toddler bed in there and let Abel sleep on that, and Dane can have the bottom bunk for a while. It's time to get rid of the crib....although it saddens me as it's one of the last baby items in the house! The pootie was hard for me to get rid of for the same reason.....