How We Dropped The Paci

My son loved his pacis. Since birth he has used the MAM brand. The idea of ditching the paci has been plaguing me for MONTHS, and I am not even exaggerating. Since Lincoln was about 18 months old I was debating on when and how to get rid of them. And I was dreading the day because my son is such an amazing sleeper and I was scared this would be the downfall. 

Once I knew I'd be heading back to work, I knew I didn't want to send the pacifier to school with him. Mostly because he's almost 2 and I was putting pressure on myself to get him done with it by that deadline, but also for the sanitation aspect of sucking it, possibly dropping it, spreading germs, bringing other germs home, etc. 

He was going down for a nap one day and I decided to beat him up the stairs and hide them. He had been sleeping with 2-5 different colored ones each night (each with their own name!). I quickly grabbed them and shoved them in my pocket and luckily I was so damn stealthy that he didn't notice!

I took them at nap because I figured if he slept like crap then who cares. Or it's no big deal for me to run in, drop a paci, and exit safely without bothering or waking the baby up since they had just transitioned into sharing a room. Which of course, that also was an added layer of anxiety.. 

I literally was holding my breath as I put him down for his nap, everything as normal minus having a million pacis scattered about and... he slept great! He didn't mention the paci or ask where it was. He didn't wake early and struggle to go back down. He took a solid 2 hour nap, woke up, and went about his business. 

I was, and honestly still am as I relive this, SHOCKED. 

That night the baby's tooth broke through and she was struggling so before Lincoln went to bed, I put one paci in the crib. This was TOTALLY my own superstition and nervousness and I just wanted to make sure if the baby woke up that he'd fall right back asleep and not suffer because of her crying. I didn't have to do add it back, but nonetheless, did. 

Again, he didn't mention it. 

The next day, I took them for good, packed them away into a box, and stuffed them into his overstuffed closet. I didn't bring it up. I didn't mention a paci fairy or a gift for giving them away or anything like that. I just packed them up without him knowing and poof, he was done with the paci. 

Since that day, 3 weeks ago now, he's mentioned a paci ONE TIME. I am not even kidding. We were cleaning his room and he looked under his bed (honestly, I think this was just out of habit because that is where they would fall and we'd find them) and said, "where's the paci?" I answered, "we don't use pacis anymore. They're all gone!" in a happy voice and trying not to make it into a big deal. 

He shrugged, found something else to hunt for, and that was that. 

I think, like so many things in parenthood, we create this illusion that our children are not flexible and that they will struggle to adapt when in reality they are beyond ready and wanting to adjust to changes.