My Baby is Growing Up

Yes, Ryan is 2 1/2.  Yes, that is his pacifier.  Until Sunday.  He only had it at nap time and bed time, but he had it at EVERY nap time and bed time and he LOVED it.  He would run to the stairs for naps and bed time because he got to go get his "paci."  So, you could say he was a little attached.  :-)

For those of you that know me well, know that I was the first to say a pacifier should be taken away at 1 year for naps and 15 months for bed time.  Until I had Ryan.  I honestly am not sure if it is the fact that he is our third one so I just don't care as much or if I am subconsciously trying to keep him a baby by letting him have it.  Maybe a little of both, but it is funny because I was SO opinionated about pacifiers before Ryan!

So, how did we get rid of it?  It was all Ryan...and Andy.  After Ryan's bath on Sunday night, he ran into his room and grabbed his pacifier as he always does right before bed.  I was still putting his laundry away in his room so Andy took him into our room and let him jump on our bed.  The pacifier kept falling out so Ryan handed it to Andy and told him to hold it.  Andy told him he would hold it, but then he was going to throw it away since Ryan didn't need it.  Ryan asked, "throw it away?"  Andy said yes.  Ryan said, "Ryan throw it away!"  Andy handed him the pacifier and Ryan ran into the bathroom and threw it away.  Andy asked Ryan about his other pacifiers (he has three in his crib at any given time) so Ryan ran into his room and grabbed them and threw them away too.

It was great, but we weren't really ready for them to be thrown away.  He is SO good going to bed and he lays in bed awhile after he wakes up because he switches his pacifiers out and it keeps him entertained!  But, we had to go through with it!

He started to realize they were gone when I was reading his book.  He normally has his pacifier for his bedtime story.  He didn't look at the book at all.  He just stared at his crib.  I felt so bad for him!  He had a major look of concern.  You know he was like, "what did I just do?!"  When the book was done, I laid him down and his lip quivered and he was on the verge of tears.  I honestly wanted to give him back his pacifiers right then!  But, I told him I loved him and that it was time for bed.  He quietly whimpered for about 20 minutes.  Then he cried.  I went in and he was frantically searching for his pacifier in his bed.  It broke my heart!  I told him the paci was all gone because he threw it in the garbage.  Then he cried more.  I got him to calm down and he was quiet for about 15 minutes.

Then he cried again.  Screamed actually.  Andy ended up rocking him to sleep that night.  The next night he cried a little bit, but not too bad.  Tuesday night was even better with just a little whimpering.  He didn't cry at all Wednesday night or after.  Today will be his first nap at home with no pacifier (daycare took the pacifier away at nap time at 15 months...they are stronger than us!).  We'll see how it goes, but I think it will be fine.

He thinks he is a really big boy now.  Well, hate to tell him he has another big life change in his future with potty training!  He has virtually zero interest at this point and we aren't going to push it yet.  We prefer the boot camp potty training when they are really ready and it is done in a weekend anyway.  I am pretty sure I won't stall potty training in order to keep him as my baby!

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Update - Nap is NOT going well.  :-(