Puppy (Love?)

A while back I read in a parenting magazine about a mom who took her child to Build-a Bear when it was time to say goodbye to the pacifier.

The story goes that her child placed the beloved paci inside the bear, they stitched it up and then the child was forever happy with the new arrangement.  New bear, yet they can still hold on to the pacifier inside too!

Let me share our account of a similar adventure:

As you may recall, several months ago, we set out to have P rid of his precious pacifiers.

For 7 days we attempted this mission.  He was up really early, not napping, could not fall asleep until late at night, and was even up in the middle of the night.  Each day his anxiety seemed to build.

After 7 days of this, I made the decision to talk to P about giving it back to him for a few months and when he turned 3 he would have to say goodbye for good.

Last Wednesday, one week ago today, it happened.

After much talk about getting a "Fluffy Puppy" at Build-a-Bear to put his 2 pacifiers inside, P and I went while big brother was at preschool.

P was so excited about his new puppy!  He went running into the store, pacifiers in hand:

Really ready...

Or so it seemed.

All went better than I expected as the pacifiers were placed inside and the puppy was stitched up.

He had a blast giving his new best friend an air bath.

Each piece of fur was carefully and lovingly brushed.

He proudly carried it home from the store.  All was going great!

Until...

Nap time.

An hour of crying hard.  Finally a very brief nap then more hard crying.

Then...

Bed time.

An hour and a half of hard crying.  He finally fell asleep out of pure exhaustion.

Middle of the night screaming.  For a LONG time.

The next morning he woke an hour and a half earlier than normal.

Repeat this cycle for the next 6 days.  (Minus the one night that Grandma put him down)

Let's just say, it's been a wee-bit less than the sweet fairy tale that this woman described in the magazine.  However, last night he DID finally go down at bedtime without a tear.  When he woke in the middle of the night, he went right down after going to the bathroom.  And at the moment, he is napping -- without crying!!

Perhaps it's premature to assume we may be fully past this process, but I think it's safe to say that we're FINALLY seeing progress.

I had no idea that part 2 would be as hard as the 1st attempt!

So, now that it's been a week, I think we can finally begin to call it "Puppy Love".