It was only 2 days ago that my friend Cazzie and I discussed the fear we had imagining the day we confiscated and said bye-bye to the pacifiers. I for one have grown to love the "paci" and am still in awe of it's amazing ability to "pacify" my child. I mean, I know the product's namesake should make its wonders not so surprising but it IS still surprising to watch a freaked out child relax just because she has a bit of rubber on a ring in her mouth. You couldn't give ME a pacifier to make me calm down (although I'm sure a handful of people wish they could do that to me). I love how becoming a mom turns you into such a hypocrite. I swore up and down I'd do this or not do that. I scoffed at the mere thought of walking my daughter 2 blocks down the street and waiting with her for the bus to arrive. I looked down on parents who let their 3 year olds still keep their pacifiers. I whispered mean things about the parents who let their kids get away with the occasional restaurant scream. I was that girl that gave disapproving glances to the mom's handing over some candy or junk food to their toddler.
It's amazing what happens when the shoe is on the other foot, isn't it? Hopefully I'm not the only one who realized the error of their opinions after mommyhood hit. Hopefully I'm not the only mom that regrets those pre-parent thoughts and comments. I try, now, to do 2 things to make up for my snooty behavior. The first is to make other nearby mom's feel a little less uncomfortable surrounded by the non-mom world. If we stick together we won't even notice the I-have-33-cats nag sneering at our little one. The second is to try to apologize profusely to everyone around me in ear shot (who I sense have no kids at the moment) so that they might remember it later on and not jump on the high horse and swear they can do better. I'm not sure how that last one will prevent disdain, but go with me.
Back to the paci. Two Days ago, literally 3 hours after I hung up from the conversation with Cazzie I returned home with Davey. I had picked her up from KinderCare at 6:15pm that day, way later than usual. They close at 6:30 so I was cutting it a little close. Anyway, at a certain point they herd the kids into one room (instead of their normal age-group room) to wait for their lagging parents. I don't especially like this, because, like that day, she was put into a 3-4 year old room and there were crayons and little teeny odds and ends all at reach of my 21-month old. Naturally when I arrive I have to con her away from the crayon TUB that is utterly fascinating to her. "I can grab two full handfuls of these and no one will care? SWEET!" I imagine her thinking. Because she wasn't in her normal room I wasn't easily able to look in her little cubby for the day's craft and pacifier. I thought to myself "ah well, I'm sure I'll find another paci at home".
Well I sure didn't find another one at home.
So guess who had an impromptu paci goodbye? My poor booboozes. She cried for 30 minutes straight when I put her to bed. Half way thru I went in and just brushed her hair, kissed her head, and whispered "I sorry" over and over again. 15 minutes after I left the 2nd time she was out. I am absolutely certain if I had access to a pacifier I would have given in and gave it to her. I guess I must have stumbled on the only way I could have success... ACCIDENTALLY!
We're going on night number three without the Paci and I'm so pumped we got that out of the way. She's still been mentioning it but we keep telling her "it's all gone..paci is all gone baby". Bottom line is we did it! We didn't set out to do it, but she did it!
Take that Mrs. Snotty-Mom. I told ya my girl was tough.
It's amazing what happens when the shoe is on the other foot, isn't it? Hopefully I'm not the only one who realized the error of their opinions after mommyhood hit. Hopefully I'm not the only mom that regrets those pre-parent thoughts and comments. I try, now, to do 2 things to make up for my snooty behavior. The first is to make other nearby mom's feel a little less uncomfortable surrounded by the non-mom world. If we stick together we won't even notice the I-have-33-cats nag sneering at our little one. The second is to try to apologize profusely to everyone around me in ear shot (who I sense have no kids at the moment) so that they might remember it later on and not jump on the high horse and swear they can do better. I'm not sure how that last one will prevent disdain, but go with me.
Back to the paci. Two Days ago, literally 3 hours after I hung up from the conversation with Cazzie I returned home with Davey. I had picked her up from KinderCare at 6:15pm that day, way later than usual. They close at 6:30 so I was cutting it a little close. Anyway, at a certain point they herd the kids into one room (instead of their normal age-group room) to wait for their lagging parents. I don't especially like this, because, like that day, she was put into a 3-4 year old room and there were crayons and little teeny odds and ends all at reach of my 21-month old. Naturally when I arrive I have to con her away from the crayon TUB that is utterly fascinating to her. "I can grab two full handfuls of these and no one will care? SWEET!" I imagine her thinking. Because she wasn't in her normal room I wasn't easily able to look in her little cubby for the day's craft and pacifier. I thought to myself "ah well, I'm sure I'll find another paci at home".
Well I sure didn't find another one at home.
So guess who had an impromptu paci goodbye? My poor booboozes. She cried for 30 minutes straight when I put her to bed. Half way thru I went in and just brushed her hair, kissed her head, and whispered "I sorry" over and over again. 15 minutes after I left the 2nd time she was out. I am absolutely certain if I had access to a pacifier I would have given in and gave it to her. I guess I must have stumbled on the only way I could have success... ACCIDENTALLY!
We're going on night number three without the Paci and I'm so pumped we got that out of the way. She's still been mentioning it but we keep telling her "it's all gone..paci is all gone baby". Bottom line is we did it! We didn't set out to do it, but she did it!
Take that Mrs. Snotty-Mom. I told ya my girl was tough.
You are such a good mommy - you don't give yourself enough credit!!! I hope you think of how sweet Davey is, and why she has become that way. I mean, really, how many kiddos say "bless you" when someone sneezes, or "okayyyyy??" when she is worried someone fell down or has an owie? :) She has such a sweet heart. Congrats on the paci extinction. Although I will miss her saying, "that's my paci!!"
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