The habit has been kicked!!! Yeah, no more pacifier!!! I really started to feel like we would have to do it soon. If Baby K comes in May and is a pacifier baby and we tried to kick the habit too close to her arrival we might have a relapse. I think with her anticipated arrival being four months out, we are safe!
Big Girl J has been slightly obsessing about her birthday. It is three months away, well more like two and a half now. However, that doesn't stop her from asking daily how many more months till her birthday!
I had a theme idea back in the fall, possibly before Thanksgiving, and told her about it. She was so excited, and that excitement has not faded at all! I think that means I have picked a good theme. One that really fits her. We are going with a 'super hero' theme! I suggested to her that we could make capes for all of her friends. This was suggested before I realized that my sewing machine had been packed up and stored in the in-laws basement! This should be some very easy, simple stitching, however getting to the foot pedal and accessories will probably be the difficult part.
I will go into more details about the party plans as we get closer, but I am getting a bit excited myself!
As a rewind, side note, our house is currently on the market. We put it on the market just over three months ago, so the reference to 'packed up' was the de-cluttering of the house. I made multiple comments of how we needed to make sure certain things stayed reachable, but when multiple trips had been made, boxes that were once reachable, are no longer. I have already had to go digging three times, and now to get my sewing machine, four. Oh well, I guess we can consider this a lesson learned.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
The Bunny Diaries Day 2
I feel like the worst is yet to come. Could it seriously be going this smooth?!? I know she is old enough in comparison to others who have kicked the habit, but she is also only 2 1/2. She is still my baby!
Last night I didn't hear a peep from them, after they finally fell asleep, of course. But there was no crying, no whining, no temper tantrum. Just me at 3am, finding it difficult to fall back asleep after the dogs woke me up. Maybe I had just overly prepared myself for a rough night. And of course, when it feels like I finally fell asleep, Wonderful Husband's alarm goes off. I am sure I got more than a half hour of sleep, but it certainly felt that way.
Little Miss O even slept in. Came out of her room carrying the Bunny, but never mentioned the missing piece. Even for nap, she went to her room, without mention of the missing pacifier. After nap she did bring out Bunny and mentioned a few times that something had been cut off.
As the 'avoid the subject' type of person, when she lifted her Bunny and said something to me along with the scissor hand motion, I looked at her and said, "Is Bunny dirty, do we need to wash him?"
She would scowl at me then hold Bunny close and would mention something cut off the Bunny for at least a half hour.
Now we are on night 2. And I must say, WE ARE ROCKING THIS!
Of course I may have jinxed myself, but I think I am far enough in to this that I am not afraid. Yesterday I was afraid, today, I feel invincible. Well not really invincible, but I am loving that the Bunny theory that I had from the beginning worked.
Who has two thumbs and is happy? This momma!
Last night I didn't hear a peep from them, after they finally fell asleep, of course. But there was no crying, no whining, no temper tantrum. Just me at 3am, finding it difficult to fall back asleep after the dogs woke me up. Maybe I had just overly prepared myself for a rough night. And of course, when it feels like I finally fell asleep, Wonderful Husband's alarm goes off. I am sure I got more than a half hour of sleep, but it certainly felt that way.
Little Miss O even slept in. Came out of her room carrying the Bunny, but never mentioned the missing piece. Even for nap, she went to her room, without mention of the missing pacifier. After nap she did bring out Bunny and mentioned a few times that something had been cut off.
As the 'avoid the subject' type of person, when she lifted her Bunny and said something to me along with the scissor hand motion, I looked at her and said, "Is Bunny dirty, do we need to wash him?"
She would scowl at me then hold Bunny close and would mention something cut off the Bunny for at least a half hour.
Now we are on night 2. And I must say, WE ARE ROCKING THIS!
Of course I may have jinxed myself, but I think I am far enough in to this that I am not afraid. Yesterday I was afraid, today, I feel invincible. Well not really invincible, but I am loving that the Bunny theory that I had from the beginning worked.
Who has two thumbs and is happy? This momma!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The Bunny Diaries Day 1
As any other good mom, I occasionally like to find random, pointless ways to be mean to my children. Like today, I decided to sneak into Little Miss O's room and cut the pacifier off her bunny stuffed animal while she slept. Maybe I should back up just a little.
Before Little Miss O was born, I saw a display of soothie pacifiers attached to little stuffed animals. I thought 'what a fabulous idea!' but then I saw the price tag and changed my mind. Moving forward a few months, after Little Miss O was born I realized she would be a pacifier child. I have always been OK with pacifiers, it is perfectly fine and even healthy for a child to want to suck on a thumb or pacifier (or so I read in a book somewhere.) I remembered back to the display and got excited, then I remembered the $14.99 tag. Amazingly these particular pacifiers are some of the best out there and they only cost $5 for a 2 pack. Since Little Miss O is a second child, we were already stocked on stuffed animals. I dug through the giant pile and found a perfectly lightly stuffed bunny. I sewed a pacifier on the ears of the bunny and Little Miss O was hooked.
There were several benefits I saw to this. Early on she would loose the pacifier while sleeping, but with the stuffed animal attached it stayed right next to her mouth and was easily retrieved most nights without waking me up. A few months later, while out and about if she spit out the pacifier it would stay in the car seat, or would be easily caught before hitting a dirty ground, parking lot or unseen area. We added a monkey to her addiction after one night of searching for the bunny and found it behind the couch, where big sister had hidden it. I decided two would be handy for those times that might become more frequent, and they did.
Eventually the monkey packed up and left. We really don't know what happened to it. I realized it was missing a day that we never left the house, so I figured it had to be around here somewhere. But after a week we gave up hope, and figured it must have ran away the day before I realized it was gone.
After another night of searching for the bunny, I decided to add another pacifier to the collection. An elephant, given to her by Aunt Awesome (or at least I bet that is what they call her due to all the spoiling.)
We don't have silly names for our pacifiers, or stuffed animals for that matter. Little Miss O was attached to 'Bunny' and 'Elephant'. They both went through the washing machine on opposite weeks, sometimes they 'bathed' together. Little Miss O was usually upset with me for a half hour on those days.
Shortly after Little Miss O turned two, I found a hole in Elephant. Well that sounds weird. Basically she chewed through the pacifier and it became unsafe. So we cut off the pacifier and didn't replace it. Then we started letting her take elephant out of the house but Bunny (the one that still had a pacifier attached) had to stay home. This worked, surprisingly well, considering all the reasons I thought the attached stuffed animal idea would be good weren't supported by anyone I knew.
Around Christmas, like Christmas Eve, I washed Bunny. After that bath, the stitching started to come undone, and the pacifier was dangling. I reattached the pacifier that evening and then realized there was a small hole in it from her bottom teeth. Knowing that in the coming days would be a room change (we combined the girls into the same room) and there would be lots of family coming in and leaving, we decided to watch the hole. Then after things settled and became more routine, we would attempt to ditch the pacifier.
Today, Little Miss O handed me her Bunny while playing. I saw the hole was much larger and becoming a problem. We decided today was the day.
I asked Little Miss O if we could say goodbye to the pacifier and she promptly grabbed the bunny and wouldn't let go. So I decided to sneak in during nap and let the pacifier fairy make it go away. This way big sister wouldn't tell on me.
Little Miss O did not nap for more than a half hour after that. She came out of her room very sad and upset. She came straight to me telling me that 'Bunny doesn't work.' I just cuddled close to her, it broke my heart. I had bought a back up pack, so that if she substitutes her thumb for the missing pacifier we could remedy that problem, and quickly.
Knowing I had those and hearing her tell me that Bunny doesn't work, made me want to jump up and give her both from the pack. But with great restraint, I just cuddled with her. It took a good 45 minutes before the random whining and awesome cuddling stopped. She hoped down from my lap and started playing. With no regard to where the broken bunny was. She even allowed Big Girl J to play with it!
As we speak she has been put to bed with the broken bunny. Amazingly it has been her sister who has gotten out of bed too many times. Without getting myself in trouble, so far so good.
I do understand that at this age it only takes 3 days to make a habit, or I guess break a habit. I knew the first day would be rough, so I am prepared for a long night. But I will be happy if it that is not the case.
Before Little Miss O was born, I saw a display of soothie pacifiers attached to little stuffed animals. I thought 'what a fabulous idea!' but then I saw the price tag and changed my mind. Moving forward a few months, after Little Miss O was born I realized she would be a pacifier child. I have always been OK with pacifiers, it is perfectly fine and even healthy for a child to want to suck on a thumb or pacifier (or so I read in a book somewhere.) I remembered back to the display and got excited, then I remembered the $14.99 tag. Amazingly these particular pacifiers are some of the best out there and they only cost $5 for a 2 pack. Since Little Miss O is a second child, we were already stocked on stuffed animals. I dug through the giant pile and found a perfectly lightly stuffed bunny. I sewed a pacifier on the ears of the bunny and Little Miss O was hooked.
There were several benefits I saw to this. Early on she would loose the pacifier while sleeping, but with the stuffed animal attached it stayed right next to her mouth and was easily retrieved most nights without waking me up. A few months later, while out and about if she spit out the pacifier it would stay in the car seat, or would be easily caught before hitting a dirty ground, parking lot or unseen area. We added a monkey to her addiction after one night of searching for the bunny and found it behind the couch, where big sister had hidden it. I decided two would be handy for those times that might become more frequent, and they did.
Eventually the monkey packed up and left. We really don't know what happened to it. I realized it was missing a day that we never left the house, so I figured it had to be around here somewhere. But after a week we gave up hope, and figured it must have ran away the day before I realized it was gone.
After another night of searching for the bunny, I decided to add another pacifier to the collection. An elephant, given to her by Aunt Awesome (or at least I bet that is what they call her due to all the spoiling.)
We don't have silly names for our pacifiers, or stuffed animals for that matter. Little Miss O was attached to 'Bunny' and 'Elephant'. They both went through the washing machine on opposite weeks, sometimes they 'bathed' together. Little Miss O was usually upset with me for a half hour on those days.
Shortly after Little Miss O turned two, I found a hole in Elephant. Well that sounds weird. Basically she chewed through the pacifier and it became unsafe. So we cut off the pacifier and didn't replace it. Then we started letting her take elephant out of the house but Bunny (the one that still had a pacifier attached) had to stay home. This worked, surprisingly well, considering all the reasons I thought the attached stuffed animal idea would be good weren't supported by anyone I knew.
Around Christmas, like Christmas Eve, I washed Bunny. After that bath, the stitching started to come undone, and the pacifier was dangling. I reattached the pacifier that evening and then realized there was a small hole in it from her bottom teeth. Knowing that in the coming days would be a room change (we combined the girls into the same room) and there would be lots of family coming in and leaving, we decided to watch the hole. Then after things settled and became more routine, we would attempt to ditch the pacifier.
Today, Little Miss O handed me her Bunny while playing. I saw the hole was much larger and becoming a problem. We decided today was the day.
I asked Little Miss O if we could say goodbye to the pacifier and she promptly grabbed the bunny and wouldn't let go. So I decided to sneak in during nap and let the pacifier fairy make it go away. This way big sister wouldn't tell on me.
Little Miss O did not nap for more than a half hour after that. She came out of her room very sad and upset. She came straight to me telling me that 'Bunny doesn't work.' I just cuddled close to her, it broke my heart. I had bought a back up pack, so that if she substitutes her thumb for the missing pacifier we could remedy that problem, and quickly.
Knowing I had those and hearing her tell me that Bunny doesn't work, made me want to jump up and give her both from the pack. But with great restraint, I just cuddled with her. It took a good 45 minutes before the random whining and awesome cuddling stopped. She hoped down from my lap and started playing. With no regard to where the broken bunny was. She even allowed Big Girl J to play with it!
As we speak she has been put to bed with the broken bunny. Amazingly it has been her sister who has gotten out of bed too many times. Without getting myself in trouble, so far so good.
I do understand that at this age it only takes 3 days to make a habit, or I guess break a habit. I knew the first day would be rough, so I am prepared for a long night. But I will be happy if it that is not the case.
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