My Ode to the Paci

Oh Paci My Paci---How do I Love you, let me count the ways! Almost 3 years ago (on Sunday) I brought a little baby home from the hospital...I can not say she was an immediate fan of our home but the one thing that seemed to make things better was a PACI. Car rides were made better (not pleasant, but tolerable) because of the paci. I was able to enjoy 11 sweet months of cuddle time and a movies with my little baby because of the sweet paci that went with us to the movie theaters. My little bundle of joy sleep through the night (11-6) at 5 weeks old because of that piece of rubber in her mouth. She would spit it out and want some milk, but if I had enough energy to flip over and give her the paci, she would go back to sleep for several hours. We could go anywhere we wanted with our baby and when it was time for a nap or even bed--we changed her into PJs, gave her a paci and she cuddled up with Mommy and off to sleep she went. As an older paci addict I told her it was time to go to bed and she would often RUN to her room knowing it was paci time. When it was bedtime I would close the door and have only had to open it a handful of times in 3 years before it was time to get up for the day. What a splendid life we had-me and that paci!


Now the time has come to part ways with my pacis and I am not happy about it at all! Annabelle has cried herself to sleep all but one evening this week-including right now and has cried immediately when she wokes up each day this week. She has only had one nap this week. I fear my bliss is over! There are NOT a lot of things that are easy about Annabelle, but one thing that has always been that way is her SLEEP. I have to be strong and resist the urge to buy her a bag full of pacis for her birthday tomorrow!

Right now I am really thinking what is so wrong with a kid with buck teeth...I mean it may be cute ;) If I only let Annabelle have it while she is sleeping how much damage can it really cause?? Maybe if I give her a paci made for preemies it may not be as bad....Maybe she will get old enough one day that she just stops sucking on the dang thing. Really, there has to be some other answer than sticking to this plan of mine!!!!

In all seriousness, I know I must stick to my plan-if only for the fact that we have talked about it so much and Annabelle seems to be on board with trying out this big girl thing and giving up her pacis. If I go back now I think she will remember that if she just cried for enough days she can get whatever she wants. However, it is really frustrating that this has become so hard on my little girl. I heard from SO MANY people that once the paci was taken away, it was no big deal. Hard core addicts have over night gone from NEEDING the paci to just not asking about it anymore---certainly they liked it as much as Annabelle. I guess I did not implement the removal correctly but at this point, what is done is done. I guess there is nothing else to do but to listen to the crying and try to get through each night one day at a time ;)

The good news is that I still have Maggie to pass along my addiction to...