Goodbye Paci!

There once was a little boy who loved to sleep with his paci.  And what a wonderful sleeper he was...when the paci went in, the eyelids went down.  Mommy and Daddy considered themselves very lucky. 

But then the little boy turned 3 yrs old and Mommy and Daddy decided it was time to finally say goodbye to the paci.  There was a new baby in the family and Auden agreed with his parents that his new baby cousin Kinley needed his pacis more than he did.  So they talked about it every night for 3 weeks before meeting baby Kinley.  And then it was time to gather up all the pacis in the house, clean them and wrap them up for the visit to Philly.

 

The time had come.  Auden met his beautiful new baby cousin Kinley.  With some minor hestitation Auden gave Uncle Chris the bag full of all his pacis for Kinley.  Since Kinley was crying, he thought it would be a good idea to give her one now. 

Success....and after getting Rita's water ice we went back to Grammy and Grandpa's house for Auden's first night without his paci!  He didn't even talk about it when we were tucking him in at night and this picture below is how Mommy found him before she went to sleep.  Luckily, the lack of a paci does not seem to affect this kid's heavy sleeping abilities (flash photography and moving him in his sleep- no problem).   



Of course there was bribery involved!  When we got back to our house in VA, Auden was promised a wonderful "big boy" present for giving all his pacis to Kinley.  He was so excited for the surprise and was over the moon to get a scooter!  The paci-less 3 yr. old rode off into the sunset....

The End. 

You know, once in a blue moon you just nail this parenting thing.  This was one of those times.  Besides needing a few extra snuggles and taking a little longer to get to sleep, Auden has done great this first week sleeping without his paci (no tears, no screams).  I think it was key to talk about giving up the pacis every night for 3 weeks and giving them to somone that he really wants to have them:-)  No regrets waiting until he was 3 yrs old.  He has never ever had it during awake hours, it helped him become an awesome sleeper, the dentist said no ill effects on his teeth and the the best of all...he's not a thumb sucker like his Mommy was!