The life of a paci

Charlie has loved his Nuk paci since he was one day old and the nurses shoved it in his mouth after putting sugar water on it, before pricking his heel. We started with the tiny 0+ silicone ones, and moved on up the growth chain, until we ended at the above 18+ months.

Charlie graduated from walking around with them, even at school, to only during sleep time at school, but still allowed by Momma and Daddy at home whenever, to only during night-night time everywhere around 16 months. By the time Charlie was about 22 months, he knew to leave the paci in his bed before getting out it, and coming to find us.

However, with the birth of Lily, it was unsurprising that a few regressions may occur, and the pacifier was the guilty party. Although I did not find him wandering around with it, I would walk in his room, and find him with one in his mouth. And then he would immediately take it out, hand it to me, and say "no paci. not sleeping." Very cute, but this continued, despite me hiding them.

And then, the big problem came when he woke up on Sunday night about 8 times before midnight, crying, and looking for the paci. So, as of Monday, the pacis disappeared, and we are now sleeping without them.

I told Charlie that if he went to bed like a big boy without his paci, he would get something special the next day, and he said, "present?" To which I replied, "Yes," and went and got him a Buzz Lightyear. The next morning, after a night of ZERO wake-ups or crying, he came into my room, and the first thing he said was, "present?" We walked into the kitchen, and he found his Buzz at his placemat on the kitchen table, and we haven't looked back...except to make sure we have Buzz.