baba

Ah, the great debate. When should I take the pacifier from Noah? I know some of you are thinking, "ummmm, a loooong time ago" and others are thinking "take it away? why?" Although we've gone back and forth with how to handle weaning him from it, in the last month we decided that we weren't going to make a big deal about it, we'd wait for him to be ready to get rid of it. He only uses it at naptime and bedtime, it stays in his room. That's how it's been for quite awhile, just for sleeping. When he went to the dentist in February, he told me that there was no evidence of Noah's teeth being effected by the pacifier...and in my opinion, allowing him to have it wasn't causing harm of any other sort, so the paci stayed. I struggled from time to time....I almost felt like I should be getting rid of it....some of my friends had taken the paci away from their kids. But at the same time, I didn't see the big deal. In fact, I wasn't ready for him to give it up. He's my champion sleeper! He sleeps from 7-7 (going down with NO problem at all) and still takes a 2...sometimes 3...hour nap! I really didn't want to give either of those up. Just because I wasn't ready to take his "baba" away, doesn't mean I wasn't preparing him for when the time did come. We regularly talked about how some of his other friends didn't use theirs anymore and that as he got older, he really didn't need it anymore. We said that whenever he was ready to be done, we would get rid of it (give it to sissy...she doesn't even use one, but that's what he said he wanted to do...:) ) Wellllllll....two days ago, Sunday, May 9, Noah decided that he was all done using his baba. We hadn't talked to him about it in a couple of weeks, but while Hylke was putting him to bed Noah said, "I'm all done with my baba, I want to give it to sissy." So, they came in E's room, gave her his baba ( a fun toy for her!) and that was that. I thought FOR SURE we'd hear from him that night...I just KNEW he'd want it back; he didn't. He slept the whole night (his FIRST night in 2 years and 11 months!) without a baba and without a peep. The next day he took his nap, no problems...2 hours and 45 mins! I decided right away that I wasn't going to make it a big battle. If he was ready, great...if not, it would be soon enough. Long story, notquiteaslongasitcouldhavebeen, he slept Sunday night, Monday nap, Tuesday nap and Tuesday night (so far) without his baba. Monday night he did have it, but as soon as he woke up he brought it to me and said, "I don't want this anymore." This is really the way that I wanted it to go. I really didn't want it to be a big battle. I know that it has been a source of comfort to him as he falls asleep and I wasn't about it take it away from him kicking and screaming (atleast not right now. :) ) So, I definitely feel like we're on our way. With two nights and two naps under our belt, soon this will be the new norm. So, farewell baba. You've been good to us.