My Baby Is Growing Up!

Well, as of today, Rebekah has not had her paci for SIX days! And I must say, the break up was very peaceful and easy. She misses her faithful friend, but is excited about the fact that she is just too big to have a paci anymore!!

I really would have gotten rid of it WAY before now. However, 2008 held LOTS of changes for our family and especially little Rebekah. The paci always got pushed to the bottom of the list. Just so you know, here is a brief synopsis of last year for us and for Rebekah:

2008
January: We moved Rebekah out of her crib and into a toddler bed.
February: Our house was for sale, lots of cleaning and keeping it presentable for showing.
March: Moved into and apartment. Rachel and Rebekah are now sharing a room.
April: Completely potty trained Rebekah.
May-July: Still in apartment and rooming with Rachel. I didn't want to deal with the trauma and keep everyone else awake.
August: Moved into new house. Now Rebekah is in her own room and in a new, big bed.
September: Rebekah started a new school.
October-December: Crazy busy time with the holidays and just never got around to doing it.

So, in January, we started talking to her about giving up the paci. She was dead set AGAINST it.

We talked about taking all her current paci's to the store and letting her "pay" for a new toy with her paci's. Her response, "I have enough toys. I don't need anymore!"

We talked about giving her paci's to another baby. Her response, "Baby's mommies get them paci's!"

We talked about making a Paci Chart and getting stickers for sleeping without her pack. Her response, "I not want a chart. I don't like stickers."

One thing that always came up whenever we talked about it. She didn't want to give up her paci because she was afraid. To quote her, "I need my paci. I don't want bugs to get in my mouth!" Not sure where this came from, but I guess if you sleep without a paci, then all the bugs get in your mouth!

After all of this discussing, I finally told her, "Rebekah, one day you're going to be too big for your paci. And when you are too big, your paci will break!" I said this because in the back of my mind, I was thinking I could sneak in one day and cut a small hole in the bottom of the paci.

Well, I didn't have to do that...at first. Last Friday night, Jon Paul told me that one of the paci's in her room (she has two) had a hole in it. He found the other one and gave it to her. So, I took this as a sign and Saturday morning, I went and got the other one and cut a hole in it too! :-)

So, at nap time Saturday afternoon, Rebekah got in her bed and promptly put her paci in her mouth. She took it out and looked at it and the conversation went like this:

Rebekah: This paci has a hole in it!
Mommy: Really? Is it broken?
Rebekah: Yes.
Mommy: Well, you know what that means! You are too big for your paci! I am soooo happy for you, my big BIG girl!!
Rebekah (pointing to the other paci in her room): That one has a hole too. That one is broken too.
Mommy: You are so big. You don't need these anymore!
Rebekah (handing me her paci): I don't want my paci's anymore.

So, that was the end of their almost four year relationship. We put both paci's in the trashcan. No tears were shed....well, maybe one or two from Mommy when she saw her little baby grow up right before her eyes!! And she has slept good for both naptime and bedtime ever since!!