Paci Free!!!

I was inspired by my friend Andrea, whose daughter is the same age as Sienna and did a great job a couple of weeks ago giving up her pacifier when it was lost. We have been struggling SO much with Sienna and the paci lately, because it's become such an addiction for her that it was interfering in day to day life, it seemed. We only let her have it when she's going for a nap or to bed, so she has been asking to go for a nap constantly throughout the day, just to get the paci. I'd taken to hiding them beneath her pillow in the crib, but then she figured out how to use a toy fishing rod to get under the pillow and "fish" them out. And then she had developed this strange ritual before bed of always wanting me to wash them both (she has a pink one and a purple one) before she'd go to sleep. Anyhow...

We decided enough was enough. She is a very big talker, and it had gotten to the point where she would be talking around her paci and it just seemed like it couldn't be good for speech development. Plus, I have this theory that her behavior has been worse as of late because she's constantly obsessing over the paci and having tantrums (and you all know that her tantrums are legendary, sometimes make-myself-faint kind of events!) when she doesn't get them.

Monday night, we packed up all three kids and had Sienna put her paci's in a Ziploc baggie, then headed to the toy store so she could pick something out and "pay" for it with her paci's. She immediately fell in love with Dora's magical castle, and it happened to be on super sale. So after casing the whole store (Have to admit I was trying to get her to buy a baby doll or a stuffed animal - like we did with Maddie - so she would have something for comfort at night in place of the paci. No dice!) we left with the castle and she was in heaven. She was SO incredibly good in the store, it was just the best trip to a toy store that we've ever had. Even with all three kids, and two of them walking instead of being in a stroller!

At bedtime, Sienna remembered that she had given the pacis to the cashier (who looked at me like I had three heads when I asked him to just take her pacis in payment and then give them back to me when she wasn't looking), but she wasn't happy about the fact that he had them. She also remembered that we had one left that we couldn't find before leaving for the toy store, so she was pretty adamant that we should look for it. It took a little convincing, but after only about 10 minutes, she went to bed without much fuss. Naptime the next day was a bit harder, but after 3 nights we are now completely paci free...and she's not even asking for it anymore! HOORAY!!

Thanks for the inspiration, Andrea!!!