My kids were never really pacifier junkies.  We used them when they were little, but Daniel gave his up on his own (much to my chagrin, at the time) when he was five months old.  Rebecca continued to use hers, but it was always primarily a sleep thing. Not much use during the day or out and about, and since she turned a year old, she would throw it onto the crib mattress herself when she was ready to get up.  No idea whether it was just a personality/temperament thing on her part, or something I got lucky and managed to not allow to become a huge habit, but anyways, we’re lucky.

She kept it for naps and bedtime all along, which doesn’t bother me.  The only exceptions to the “paci in the crib” rule are generally for illness or travel. Hell, the only vaguely recent picture I could find of her and the paci was when she had an ear infection in Florida.  I figured we’d ditch it eventually, but I wasn’t in a huge rush.

Except that, when I got her up from nap this afternoon, I noticed it was busted.  Frankly, it’s amazing it lasted this long.  It’s the same WubbaNub that I got as a shower gift when I was still pregnant.  But recently I know she’s been chewing on it more, and then yanking it out of her own mouth.  So not a shock that it was almost ripped in half after nearly two years of use.

I figured I might as well seize the opportunity, rather than hunt around the house for another pacifier.  Somewhere, I think we have more of the plain green ones, though no WubbaNubs.  Nah, let’s just be done with it.  I showed her that it was broken, and told her she couldn’t put it in her mouth anymore.  I said it had to go into the trash, but she insisted she wanted to carry it (“kee-yow“) and I let her.

She carried it around after nap for maybe 20-30 minutes, and each time I saw her start to put it in her mouth, I reminded her that it was broken and she couldn’t do that anymore.  So she kept it tucked under her arm until she agreed to my suggestion that it go in the “tash.”

She did it herself, big girl that she is.  She did ask for it a few more times, and at bedtime when she usually gets it while she sits in the chair for stories.  But we reminded her that it was broken, and she remembered. (“Bo-ken. Tash.“)  Daniel chimed in with a few additional reminders. (“Becca paci bo-ken!“)  I left for a mom’s night out while they were still mid-stories, but M says she went down without a fuss and the monitor is possibly even quieter than usual.

Fingers crossed for a smooth night.  Another baby milestone gone.  Bye bye, pacis.  You were good friends, but your time is now passed.