The Great Debate- pt. 4

Every parent debates about it...when to take the plug away. Or the thumb, fingers, etc...We didn't plan on Pax having a pacifier. But with the circumstances after his birth (he had to be under an oxygen hood for 2 hours immediately after birth, and they had a hard time getting him to calm down to get his heart rate back to normal), the nurses made a judgement call and gave him one. I'm glad they did; but since he had a plug for hours before I was even allowed to nurse him-he was pretty hooked on it right away. We've gone back and forth (and back and forth...and back and forth...) about when we would take it away. On one hand--after about 18 months, we knew he didn't need it. Once he hit 14 or 15 months, we limited the plug to his bed. He gave it to us immediately upon waking up; no walking around with it in his mouth; didn't have it in the car either (except when we moved up North and I drove with him in one packed car by myself for 10 ours while Adam drove a van with the uha*l attached...but that was a matter of sanity!) We talked about getting rid of it when he hit 18 months- but we knew we were moving, and wanted to keep it for the sake of transition (I'm so glad we did....it was hard enough for him to adjust even WITH the plug!!). Then we thought we'd get rid of it at the end of the summer...and he started potty training himself at 19 months. And the baby was on the way. Too many changes at once are...well, let's just say the boy isn't the best with change. So, I decided I'd rather have him close to or totally potty trained before the baby came than give up the plug. About 6 weeks after B arrived, we started talking about it again- when to get rid of IT. And then-ta-da!! the plug solved the problem for us.
Pax has (had!) 4 plugs-and slowly, one by one, he chewed holes in each of them. Because, at this point, he chewed on them more than he sucked on them...so, slowly, one by one, Pax threw away his "broken" plugs. A week or so ago, we were suddenly down to one. Then last night-the blue plug had a hole in it, too. I kinda freaked out a bit...I mean, was I really ready to do this?? I kept remembering our friends in D-town, and the horrible time they had after they got rid of their daughter's plug...but I knew it was time. *Gulp!* At dinner last night, we talked about different ways to say "goodbye" to the plug...you know, tie it to a helium balloon and let it fly; toss it in the trash like the others; and then my mom suggested having Pax "exchange" the last plug for one of the trains he wants. Which, of course, was genius because of our small son's obsession with trains in general and Thom*s trains specifically. SO this morning I mentioned to Pax that his blue plug was broken (which he knew; he also knew what this meant-trash can.), and asked him if he'd like to trade his last plug for a new train of his choice. I made sure he understood that if he traded it, the plugs were fini and there wouldn't be any more for him since he was a big boy now. His response? "sure!!" (runs into the bathroom with his plug and puts it in the trashcan) "I put pwub in the trash. Let's go to the store!!" Bingo. This might actually work! After all, we've discovered external motivation (ahem-bribery-cough) does work very well with this kid. It worked with the bottle; and, more recently, gave him enough motivation to go back to pooping on the potty, instead of in his pants. Or the tub. But that's a story for another day.

We headed to a train store about 10:30 this morning...I wanted to do nap time without the plug before bed. ( I'm a chicken, yes. Just couldn't stop thinking about Kate, Jill!) I gave him the choice of any train in the store- he picked a dark purple train with red wheels called Charlie. He was SO EXCITED!! couldn't wait to tell Daddy about it when he called at lunchtime.

He's down for a nap now. It was a little hard; maybe 5 minutes of whining/fake crying...I went in after about 10 minutes and all he said was, "snuggle me, Mama,". Not a word about the plug. He totally gets it...smart kid! So, of course, like any good Mama, i rubbed his back for a few minutes as he drifted off to sleep, Charlie clutched tightly in his little hand....and I'll let ya know how tonight goes. A little nervous, not gonna lie. Not really expecting to sleep well the rest of the week. But- He did it. Sniff, sniff... my baby's growing up. Woohoo!!