Goodbye Paci

One last suck on the pacifier

When Sophie turned 2 1/2, we finally got rid of her pacifiers! We figured that the best way to do it was just to cut her off cold turkey. We wanted to make sure that she was involved in this process, so we decided to do a pacifier send-off with balloons (an idea that my sister-in-law did with her daughter). Today after we went to church, Sophie and I went to the Dollar Tree to pick out some balloons. We ended up getting three Elmo balloons and three balloons with Mickey Mouse. Sophie was so excited with all the balloons. When we got home we took two of her pacifiers and tied each of them up with three balloons (the pacifier acted as a weight for the balloons, so we needed multiple to make them float).  We let her suck on her favorite pink paci one last time before we took Sophie, the balloons, and pacifiers outside. As soon as he got outside Sophie release the balloons and set her pacifiers free. She freaked out a little bit at first but then waved goodbye to them.

Sophie let the balloons go without us having to tell her to do so.

Bye pacis!

The first night she did very well without her pacifier. While Joe was rocking her before putting her to bed, she looked out the window and asked where her pacis were. He reminded her that they went bye-bye in the sky with the balloons. She seemed okay with that. The next day she kept asking where her pacifiers were, but it didn't seem too bothered by the fact that they were gone. I showed her the video pacifiers going away couple times and she seemed fine with it. She would tell me very matter-of-factly that her papis flew away and they were all gone. Later that night she did wake up crying around 11 PM. She had a sticker stuck to her hand and that was what she was upset about. She didn't ask for her pacifier though, so that was good.

Luckily, Sophie has slept very well without her pacifier. She still asks for them but remembers that balloons took them away. We have to watch the video of her pacifiers flying away multiple times a day. She will bring me my phone and asked me to get out the 'balloon game' for her to watch.

I am so proud of how well she has done without pacifiers. I know that she misses them but she is being such a big girl. I think I am probably doing worse with this thing she is. I feel guilty, as if I took away her best friend. Still it was something that was necessary and I'm glad that we are rid of. I just hope she continues to do well without her pacifiers.