Paci Free – Day 1

Yesterday I decided that it was time to give up the pacifier.  I realize it might be a tad unfair seeing as how I’m not the one who uses it, but I’m the mommy!  Addy’s closing in on being a year and a month (13 months to those who count in mommy terms), growing four top teeth, and simply really doesn’t seem to “need” the paci.  Sure she’ll pick it up when she sees it on the ottoman.  Or make noise when she can’t seem to find it in the middle of the night.  But never really seem attached to it.

Plus sometimes we do half wake up and trek across the apartment to replace a missed paci in the wee hours of the morning only to find that when we return to our side of the place we can still hear her mumbling in her sleep on the monitor.  So what good is it really doing?

So I announced to Brownlee (and I think Addy heard) that as of yesterday we were done with pacis and grabbed the ones I could find (there is always one that just pops up) and put them out of reach from Addy.  We started about the day as usual.

She didn’t seem to want a morning nap and of course got sleepy right as it was time to go to Gymboree.  We fought a little bit to put her in her car seat but that’s just some new thing she has going on.  Gymboree was no problem.  She dozed off in the car on the way home.  It was so silent I didn’t notice until I looked back at a light.  Didn’t even need to reach for the paci to quiet her down. I took her out the car and dropped her in the bed no problem.

Brownlee rejoined the ranks of the PFFL (professional flag football league) so we loaded up his car and headed to the field for two games.  I considered driving me and Addy separately but I was being a bum and figured worse come to worse she can sleep in the stroller.  But no nap or paci was needed.  She ran and ran and played with kids and tried to get on the field but didn’t really scream and cry so the emergency paci I packed wasn’t needed.

Then came night time.  Brownlee asked what exactly we were supposed to do if/when she woke up in the middle of the night in a fit looking for her paci.  I honestly didn’t have an answer.  Since replacing the paci didn’t quiet her down in the middle of the night I wasn’t sure if she would even wake up looking for it if she went to sleep without it.

Addy was overly tired and fighting sleep with a vengeance and was just yelling with no tears.  I had to actually rock her and had flashbacks to having a 2 month old.  She was bonkers.  I sat her on our bed, she’d crawl over to me then start screaming.  I’d pick her up, she’d wiggle to get down and would slide off our bed and try to run around but then come right back to me screaming.  I finally calmed her down and somewhere in the first quarter of the Lakers/Grizzlies game she just fell asleep.  Normally we know she’s knocked out when she spits the paci out (another clue that maybe it’s not needed) so we reverted back to the arm test and true to form she was knocked out.

We made it to 3am without hearing any noise from her room.  I can’t tell if it was exhaustion from two days of running around outside or if she was just sleeping well.  I was about to get up and check on her but she only hollered twice and the noises stopped.  I made sure she was equipped with a snuggly blanket and her huggie.  So I laid back down and waited until my alarm went off…and snoozed…and snoozed…and snoozed.

When I checked on her this morning she was snuggled up against her Pooh blanket all nice and comfy.

Night 1 of no paci shall go in the books (blog) as a success.  I’ll see how we’re doing come Friday.  Maybe I’ll need a paci by then.