I'd been meaning to do it for a long time, but decided on a whim that today was the day--NO MORE PACIFIERS! Maddie's been mostly only using them for naps and bedtime, but she does manage to sneak them at other times too (she's really sly about sneaking them out of the dishwasher when I'm putting away clean dishes!). She knows she's only supposed to have them when she's sleeping, so she tries to pull the "Oh, I soooo tired! (fake yawn) I need a pacifier so I can go sleep on the couch!" trick. (I'm on to you, little girl!) She's been getting better at the potty training thing, so I figured we'd just go all out and jump on the "you're a big girl now" bandwagon.
After her nap I told her we were going to do a *special project* together. "Oh wow, what is it Momma?" I showed her a little gift bag I'd recycled from my stash & a big ribbon and let her pick out an assortment of papers from my scrapbook stash. We had the "you're such a big girl now" speech and I said we were going to make a special present for her baby brother and that she got to make the card. We'd take it to him in the hospital when he is ready to come out of Mommy's tummy and then he'd give Maddie a special present too! (I'm planning to wrap up a new doll or something and have it be a gift from Little Brother for her to open at the hospital, since baby will be getting lots of attention and probably a few gifts too.) Maddie is pretty sharp, so I figured this approach probably wouldn't fly in terms of getting rid of her beloved pacifiers, but she surprised me and ran with the idea! She pasted the papers onto the card, drew pictures for baby brother and wrote him a note (which I then transcribed for her).
Her card said:
Dear Baby Brother,
I got you a present. These pacifiers are for you! I am a big girl now, so I don't need them anymore. Just babies need pacifiers. I am sharing them with you so that you won't cry.
I love you! I can't wait to see you!
Love, Maddie
Awww...how cute is that?! The rest of the afternoon I've been hearing her mutter under her breath and tell her baby dolls, "I'm a big girl now. I don't need pacifiers anymore!" :-)
Of course, the real test will be bedtime tonight...let's hope it's not an all-night production!
(Be strong, Mommy, be strong!)
4 comments:
I love this idea :) Lisa SO precious.
Good job, Mama! So creative. I love that she just jumped right in. She knew it was time. Yay for you! Congrats. One less thing to wash... ;) xo
I love the photos Sis! Especially the ones of Maddie and the easle outside. What a budding artist :)
You are so creative! I hear it can be rough to break the pacifier habit, but it sounds like she may be ready and I hope bedtime ended up going well.
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