My son proves once again that the little issues that I stress over aren’t worth the time or the effort.
I’ll admit it. I was one of those mom’s who swore her children would never take a paci (never throw a fit in public, be potty-trained by two, and always use good manners – ha!). Now that I’m a mommy to three, my expectations are a bit more realistic…
At around 9 months, we began limiting Bo’s paci fixes to nap and night – he will be 2 1/2 next week. Logically, I’ve known that the time had come to break the paci habit for awhile, but with a twin pregnancy, move, and the resulting non-sleeping little sisters threw all of my good intentions for a loop. Since the girls are slowly starting to become better sleepers, I started to put more thought into taking the paci away but I still wasn’t ready to face that battle.
On Thursday afternoon, after I retrieved Bo from his “nap” (there was no sleep in him that afternoon) he gathered all of his pacis, took them into the kitchen, and threw them in the trash can. This was totally unprompted. I’ve briefly mentioned that the paci’s need to go bye-bye soon but as I mentioned above, I haven’t been committed to it.
I didn’t think much about Bo’s trash can trip at the time and just figured we would retrieve them later. Bedtime came, I put Bo down for bed and went downstairs to grade some papers. Half an hour later, I hear Bo crying over the monitor, “I need a paci! I need a paci!”. This was my chance. I had a split second to make the decision — dig the pacis out of the trash or let Bo experience some natural consequences and see the results of throwing the pacis in the trash. I went with the latter.
I went into Bo’s room. Picked him, gave him a hug, and explained that the pacis were all gone because he threw them in the trash earlier. He wasn’t thrilled, but seemed consoled with a little bit of love and his Cinnabear. I went back downstairs and he fell asleep. I heard him chatting to himself around 4ish this morning, but he wasn’t crying or upset.
Bo started stirring again around 8:30 this morning. When I went in to get him dressed for the day the first words out of his mouth were, “I need a paci!”. I explained again that he threw the pacis away and lavished him with praise for sleeping all night without it. I even dug into my secret stash of gifts and brought up this new toy
Bo went down for his nap just fine this afternoon but didn’t actually go to sleep until I went in to see him after I arrived home from giving my last final. He asked for a paci and I explained again that he threw them away. He said, “Kiss my teeth” so I did and then he went right to sleep and took about a 2 hour nap.
As I type this, he is down for night two sans paci.
After all of my stress and needless worry, could it really be this easy?
How long do you think I would have to wait for him to potty train himself?
nice job!!!
and he might still ask, but you're doing so well with it. and yeah, potty training… if you're ever interested i can tell you what worked for benjamin (when he was about 2 yrs and 10 or 11 months old). 
Fantastic! We yanked the binky at 2.5 too. Isabella had had it only for naps and nighttime since she was about 9 months or so as well, so we did the "Binky Fairy" bit, and after only one night of no tears, but a lot of cries of "I need something in my mouth!", she kicked the binky habit.
So glad to hear Bo has too!
Ugh. I am so jealous. My two and a half yr. old is still sucking at bedtime. I bet this little step that your little guy took, in his own time, will hit you often in the next few days. Lots to be thankful for.
Sometimes they surprise you and it does end up being just this easy. CONGRATS to Bo!
I love Cold Turkey Pacifier surrender! That worked for us too, and it took about a week of reminders – that tapered down over the week – that we had no more "D"s (I have no idea where he came up with that name? ha!) and then we were done. I had a hard time believing that it could be that simple too. Isn't it great?!
Potty Training was the same way with my oldest (he was nearly 3.5, and it was ME who wasn't ready!) – we did a 1 day Boot Camp. I'm gonng try that soon with my almost-2.5 year old, and see how it goes.
The paci removal was easier than I thought for the twins, too. You are right, things change when you add more children to the mix, especially a set of twins. Survival is all that matters.
So, the twins could quite possibly potty train themselves? You let me know how long it takes Bo, and then I'll make my decision.
good luck with the potty training. he may do the same as with the pacis!
Holy. I hope it goes that well for us when it comes time to pry the soother out of Jboy's chubby little fingers.
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