Bye bye Pacifier! Hello Big Boy Bed?

This past Saturday, our little family was being lazy in our bed watching cartoons. Caleb still had his pacifier (he usually only gets it at nap and bed times), so I took the opportunity to take it for a moment. After snipping the top, I handed it to Caleb and told him it was broken. He got a big kick out of saying “broke” and throwing it on the ground. Then I told him we could throw it in the trash, and he got an even bigger kick out of tossing it in the trash can. He took his nap and went to bed that night without his pacifier and without any fuss. When he asked for it, we told him it was broken. He then said, “paci broke trash.” I was feeling pretty good about the situation.

On Sunday I was heading out of town on business. (It had not occurred to me the day before when I cut the pacifier that this week might not be the best time to get rid of the pacifier as there would only be one caretaker in the house.) Before I left, I put him down for his nap. Again he went down without the pacifier. After checking in at the airport, I noticed that Seth had called. When I returned the call, I found out that Caleb had woke up after an hour nap (he usually naps for 2-3 hours) screaming for his pacifier. Seth held out and didn’t give it to him, but Caleb of course screamed uncontrollably for 25 minutes.

On Sunday night, Caleb just screamed when Seth put him in the crib. Caleb has never done this; he has always gone down immediately without any fuss at all. Seth rocked Caleb and some how mentioned the idea of sleeping with Daddy that night. Caleb got down from Seth’s lap, went downstairs and stood at our bed until Seth arrived. After Seth put him in the bed, he went to sleep. We couldn’t believe he even understood what Seth was talking about. The last two nights have gone about the same – Seth starts him in the crib and Caleb eventually ends up in our bed.

I get back home tonight. I usually put Caleb down, so it will be interesting to see if Caleb gets back into the routine or has developed a new habit of sleeping in our bed. If that is the case, I think we’ve decided to start the process of moving him to a big boy bed rather than fighting him to sleep in the crib. We were planning on moving him in 2 months anyway to get ready for his baby sister.