She kicked the habit!

We did it! We have successfully moved on from life with a paci! It has been in the works for months and we finally did it. I have wanted to do it for a while now, but it always seemed there was a sickness, teething, moving to a big girl bed, or travel that would interfere with it being an easier transition. At the beginning of last week I said we would get rid of it by Thanksgiving...by the end of last week I said we were getting rid of it after our little trip this past weekend. Ha! Emily has only had the paci for nap and bedtime so it wasn't too much of a nuisance, but for the sake of her cute little teeth I figured we should kick it sooner than later.

Here is how it went down: First, I bought an inexpensive, soft baby doll from Target last week in preparation. We have also been talking about it for several weeks that we would soon have to throw the paci away. Yesterday the paci got "broken" (scissors...). When she went to put it in at bedtime it had a hole in it. She gave me a very pitiful look and said, "fix it mommy." Ok, so that broke my heart just a little (ok, A LOT). But, it was the only paci we had and there was no turning back. Viktor walked in a few minutes later and she looked at him and said, "It's broken, daddy. Fix it." Again, sad, pitiful face. By then my anxiety was growing by leaps and bounds just thinking about the night ahead of us. Oh, but wait! The new baby doll! Surprise, Em...tonight, since the paci is broken (she actually threw it in the trash herself), you can have a new baby doll to help you go night night! A smile!

We went through our normal routine, read a few extra books before bed, and tucked her in. She fussed for about 20 minutes and I went to reassure her a few times, but she was soon in lala land. I did think we had made it through the worst part...until about 2 hours later when I settled into bed. Then the crying began. The funny thing is that she wasn't even awake. She was crying out in her sleep. Every time I would go into her room she was asleep, but crying. I would put the baby in her arms and she would gently snuggle it and roll over back to sleep. Silly girl! After an hour of off and on crying she slept the entire night until her usual 7am wake up! Yay, Em!

Nap time wasn't much different. She asked for her paci (I actually found her digging in the trash for it once today), but after about 20 minutes of fussing she went to sleep and took a good nap. And now, she is tucked snugly into bed and I haven't heard a peep from her at all yet. Here's hoping for a peaceful night for all! :) I am proud of her!

I leave you with a little picture of my sweetie (enjoying her new Dora pj's) and "quack quack"...just because she is the cutest munchkin I know! By the way, did you know that chip clips can also serve as hair clips...Em is trying to start a new trend!