Bye, Bye Paci

This is not a very recent picture, but it does show Mary Ella's love/obsession with her paci: one in mouth, one in each hand, and one extra just for good measure. I will say that since she turned one, she was limited to paci time only for sleeping at naps/bedtime, in the car, or at church (for obvious quiet reasons). So, she has never been a kid that runs around with it in her mouth all day, but taking it away has been looming over my head. She is a great sleeper and a wonderful traveler, so it scared me to death that that might all change. I asked the doctor at her 18 month appointment, and he said he was fine with it until age 2. We're almost there, and several things lead us to the decision to go ahead and do it. First of all she can say "paci," and to me that kind of seems like a sign that she is not a baby anymore and doesn't need it. Secondly, she was starting to talk with it in her mouth in the car, and that drives me crazy. And thirdly, she wasn't sleeping well when we got home from Springdale, and I was to the point of letting her cry it out anyway. So I asked Brad if he thought we should just go ahead and take it away that very night, and he agreed. We both braced ourselves for a rough night, but it was a breeze! Here's how we did it. One of her pacis had gotten a hole in it, and she wouldn't suck on that one anyway. While Brad was getting her ready for bed we had a little talk. I showed her the paci with the hole, and we talked about it having a boo boo. Then I told her all her pacis got boo boo's, and they were going bye bye. I guess that was the only explanation she needed because she went to sleep without making a peep. We were so relieved! Then, the next morning she woke up with fever! I felt so bad that she was burning up and hadn't had her paci for comfort. We spent the day watching cartoons on the couch and trying to get the fever to break. I feel certain that if she had asked for her paci that day I would have totally caved. But she didn't! Not once! She has mentioned it a couple times since then, but I always say, "Remember your pacis got boo boo's and went bye bye." That's all it seemed to take. Now she rocks with and hugs Froggy to go to sleep. My baby girl is getting so big!

P.S. I should probably also mention that June 14th was a noteworthy day. Brad and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary! We didn't take any pictures, but it was a sweet one. He came home with flowers and got a babysitter so we could go on a date. We haven't done that since we lived here! A girl from our youth group at church came over, and I'm pretty sure ME had a blast dragging her around! We went out to eat at Parker House, my fav! Happy anniversary, Brad! I love you!