Apparently, it's time

Yesterday, I talked about how LMA's beloved "Paci's" nipple was lost bitten off during nap time. I contemplated about just going out a buying him another one so MY beloved "Me" time doesn't vanish as well.

Alas, I was informed by both my mother and a wonderful blogging Mom, AmyBow that it was time for LMA to give up the pacifier all together. Amy had given me some wonderful ideas on how to transition LMA through this phase. Like throw him a going away "paci party" - not as great sounding as "potty party", but it sounded like a good idea. Or sending paci to Grandma in California. Or trading Paci in for a new toy.

All these ideas sounded great, but I wasn't ready to do them last night after we came home from dinner out. Besides, he doesn't need paci when he goes to bed at night, so no need to upset him before he goes to bed.

After Gymboree today, I decided to go to Target (also because I had been promising LMA to go to "That Toy Store" all week long to look at new trucks. Like always, we stop by the Dollar Spot to find new and exciting things. Somehow, he always manages to find something that sparks his interest that is buried underneath all sorts of other goodies. This time, it was a wooden school bus that was around during Christmas time. While I finished my shopping, he carried that little school bus around and wouldn't put him down or out of his sight.

When the time came to finally check out, he placed the bus on the conveyer belt and watched the cashier scan it. When he watched it disappear into the bag, he asked for it back. As we were walking out of the store, I remembered Amy's advice about trading Paci in.

A's Mom: That's a nice school bus you found.

A: Uh uh. School bus.

A's Mom: You know who wanted you to have that school bus?

A: (Looks at me with curiosity.)

A's Mom: Paci. Paci wanted you to have that nice school bus.

A: (Looks at me with total shock) Paci? School bus?

A's Mom: Yep. (As I'm trying to choke back tears) Paci wanted you to have the school bus because Paci broke yesterday.

A: Paci broke. School bus.

A's Mom: Yep. Maybe you can hold onto School bus and Jeffrey to keep you company while you take a nap today.

The entire way home. He kept saying, "Paci broke. Mommy fix." "Paci broke. Daddy fix." "Paci school bus."


So it seemed as though the idea possibly worked... until we went down for a nap.


When he asked for Paci lie he always does, I showed him paci again. Paci was in two pieces and the small piece could NOT go in LMA's mouth because he could choke. He proceeded to take the two pieces and try to put them back together. "Paci broke. Baby fix."

I was heart broken. So ready to just run out to CVS to buy him another paci, but instead I said, "Paci can't be fixed, Buddy. LMA can hold Jeffrey and Monkey to go to sleep for nap time." Not remembering that I promised him at the store that he could hold school bus during nap time.

I don't know if it was because I put school bus on his dresser, like we do every other toy that he was holding onto prior to bed time, but he broke down when he couldn't put paci in his mouth. I let him "kiss" his school bus "good-night" so bus could take a nap too. About 5 minutes later, I hear him bonk his head on the crib slats (we still haven't put back his bumper pad from when he was sick last month) and I go in to console him. I ended up just handing him paci to hold onto, since he really couldn't put it in his mouth, and within 2 minutes he was asleep.

So, I'm not sure where to go from here. I was thinking of just letting him hold onto Paci until he gets sick of doing that after a couple of days, but now I'm thinking of sending it to the "Paci fairy" who can use it for another little girl or boy or better yet, a teddy bear to help him sleep during nap time. Not sure either if he really even understands anything I'm saying.