Over the holiday break, we had one of our biggest moments in parenthood. Aiden said good-bye to his beloved pacifier or as he calls it, his "bobby"! It was really a SAD day for both my little boy and mommy, as that was always a reminder of my little first baby boy. He has always LOVED his pacifier...
Now, for those who want to know what age we took it away...he just turned FOUR! Crazy, right? Why didn't we do it sooner??? Aiden is a high-energy spirited child who had a hard time just chilling---his pacifier was his beloved way of calming down around the house. It was limited to nap times and bedtimes and really didn't affect his everyday life. He just started to give up napping, right around the age of four, so I was in no rush of pulling it sooner. If you are wondering, the dentist knew he had it and wasn't concerned with the growth of this teeth and there was no concern from ANYONE that he had a lack of speech or language development...this kid talks all the time! (I believe that every family has to do what is best for them and every kid is different so there is no PERFECT age to take it away!)
But now that he has hit the big age of four, we finally decided it was time to say good-bye to his VERY beloved pacifiers. Since he is so attached to his pacis, we decided to give him a new item to become attached to and take him to Build-A-Bear to create his own little stuffed animal that will hold his pacifiers inside forever.
So we took a special trip to the mall one afternoon to the Build A Bear shop. Aiden quickly picked out the penguin with the "light-up" bow tie. As he stuffed his new penguin with the help of the worker, he also placed his last three pacifiers inside (and if you are wondering, I hid a couple at home JUST IN CASE!). He stuffed his bear, bathed his bear, and picked out a special accessory for his penguin: a little stuffed animal cell phone! (Perfect for my techie boy) And Aiden the Penguin, the animal's new name, became a part of our family.
We headed for a nice dinner out to celebrate the occasion before returning home for our first attempt at bedtime with no pacifiers. Both my husband and I had visions of a shredded penguin in search of pacifiers, but our big boy did great. Although it took much longer than normal to wind down, there were no tears shed and he slept through the night. Since that night, it has continued to take him longer to settle down (also due to the fact that our boys started sharing rooms recently) but has done GREAT with no pacifier. So all in all, it has been a successful good-bye to our first born's pacifier.
Great idea about the BAB! The one benefit of taking the binky away when they're a little older is that you can reason with them more and they can understand why it has to go. Good job, mama!
ReplyDeleteOh phew! I am glad to know I am not the only momma out there who had a nearly four year old with a pacifier. Our Lucas just turned four and was only using his papaz (his word for pacifier) for napping and bedtime. But on his birthday he chewed through his pacifier and at bedtime he decided he was a "big boy" and didn't need it and threw it out. The transition hasn't been too hard, although now he seems to be totally done with naps as well, but I'll take it. :) (momma is not quite ready for him to give up naps, so now we're working on quiet time!)
ReplyDeleteCelebrating it as a milestone that your son can be involved with is such a great idea! I'm so glad my son was never into it (he used it for about 3 months before he wouldn't take it anymore) but at the same time, I wish for something to help him calm himself down sometimes! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI think it is so great you took things at your own pace. More people need to do that and stop being so concerned about when things are supposed to happen (I am so guilty of that). What a special way to celebrate. I hope he loves his build a bear! Thanks for linking up!
ReplyDeleteaw congrats! what a big boy!
ReplyDeleteYay!! Congratulations--it's a huge deal! I love the idea of putting it in the build-a-bear.
ReplyDeleteSuch a good idea! Mine take theirs at naps and bed time too.. but we are starting to think of getting of them. We may have to do this!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter did the build-a-bear pacifier send-off with her 4 children and it worked well. Wish they'd had build-a-bear when she was little. : )
ReplyDeleteIt is getting time for us take Sweet Pea's paci away. I'm actually really scared to take it away. :/
ReplyDeletehttp://mrsdchastain.blogspot.com
I can't say enough how awesome this is! My boy is almost 2.5 years, and we're trying to wean him off his pacifier, mostly because he still uses the Soothie baby ones and we're seeing some minor overbites. The "paci fairy" trick didn't work, so maybe we'll do this Build-a-Bear thing. Although I have to admit, it was such an easy way to calming him down (shutting him up) in public places, on the plane, etc!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea to put the pacis in a BAB!
ReplyDeleteI love the build a bear idea. Congrats for passing a milestone. Thanks for linking up to Mommy Moments.
ReplyDeletewww.littlegems3.blogspot.com
Thank you so much for this posting! My husband and I decided that the age of two was the magic age to get rid of the binky. Well, his birthday was yesterday and the pacifier is still in our lives! I don't think he's ready and I know I am certainly not ready. If we stuffed them in a bear right now, I know that bear wouldn't survive the night! It is such a great idea for when the time is right. I feel so much better about waiting a little longer:)
ReplyDelete~Allyson
www.thesunshinemoms.com
I remember myself with Aiden I was 5 years old when I stop using pacifier. My mom put a chili on the nipple of the pacifier... after that I did not use it anymore. But good for you Aiden I know how you feel but it's for our own good.
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