Pacifier Addicts Anonymous

"Hi, my name is Josh and I'm addicted to pacifiers."

These green delights served us well for 17 months, but it is time to say good-bye.

Josh was a pacifier boy from minute one. Seriously, he took his first big breath of life and followed it with an ear-shattering scream heard throughout the hospital. It was a sweet sound to the NICU nurse in me, but a scary sound for things to come as a new mom. His screams would only be silenced with a green hospital pacifier. As soon as that thing hit his mouth, he was as happy as a clam. He has loved them ever since. I tried fancier, cooler looking pacifiers (and paid a pretty penny for them), but he would promptly spit them out and root around for the green one. I tried the stage two version of the green paci, it's cousin, the blue pacifier, but he wanted nothing to do with it. So, I gave up and stuck with the green life-savers. Great news for me, since I have a good supply of them.

Over the past few weeks, I have noticed Josh becoming more and more attached to his pacifiers. He only gets them in his crib, but even then, he would have one in his mouth, one in his right hand, and one in his left hand. He would gently caress the pacifiers until he finally fell asleep. So what does a good mom do when she sees something so sweet and innocent? She rips those things out of his life in one swoop. I'm so sweet, I know it. I have found with my child ( I know not all kids are the same) cold turkey works best. Chris and I did devise a plan to get Josh nice and tired before his first pacifier-free slumber. Other than drugs, what gets a child super sleepy???

The Pool!!!

We have been spending many days and evenings at our neighborhood pool. It has a super cool baby pool that allows Josh to wade around independently and play with all the other kids under three feet tall. I bring pool toys with me, but of course he finds all the other kid's toys much cooler and insists on stealing them away. That's when the fun begins.

There is also a super cool slide. Here is Chris and Josh taking a turn.

As you can see, Josh LOVES the slide. Every time we are at the pool, he takes off running for the slide. Chris doesn't mind, but when I am there with him during the day, I hate it. I am so scared of that thing. It drops you off into water that is just my height and trying to hold Josh above the water and not let myself drown is difficult for this clumsy girl. I also end up with a nose full of water. But, all I need to do is look at this picture and it will make the water-up -the-nose slide ride well worth it!

And, our plan to wear out our child in time for bed is working! He is now pacifier-free for 11 days and is doing very well. The first few days were actually quite easy (except one 2 hour 3-5am melt-down). Now, he is trying to learn to put himself back to sleep without his green friends. It is meaning a little less sleep for all of us, but overall he is doing great! He is such a big boy!