With Jack turning three next month, we knew it was time to say goodbye to his pacifier for good. We were planning on getting rid of it earlier, but we had a 7 hour plane ride to get through in December, and then with our life being so up in the air, I didn't want to make too many changes in Jack's life at once. Knowing we were going to Disneyland at the beginning of May, I knew I wanted it for the car and to take good easy naps on the trip, but we should be done with it after that.
Sooo, for weeks leading up to our Disneyland trip I prepped Jack. I told him after Disneyland we were going to have a big party and tie his passie to a balloon and let it go in the sky and we would say good-bye to it. He understood really well what was going to happen by the time the big day rolled around.
We weren't sure if we were going to also let Avey's go as well, but I finally decided we would just lose hers too since it wasn't helping that much at church, and I was afraid Jack would go in her crib and smother her in her sleep to steal her passie. So I tried to prep Avey, but she had no clue what was going to happen or what was going on when the big day arrived.
We made a big deal of going to the store and choosing a balloon to tie his pacifier to. He chose two balloons - Elmo and Mickey Mouse. (So we could have one balloon after we let the other ones go.) And Avey chose a princess balloon. ***In case you're wondering, the cheapest mylar balloons are at Dollar Tree for $1. Honks doesn't even have them for $1, they're $1.25- and the Party stores are crazy at like $3.15 each for the smallest ones. But then if you need other latex balloons they are cheapest at the party store, .59-.75 each, while they are $1 each still at Dollar Tree and Honks. Just to save some of you time in case you need some cheap balloons. Hi Float doesn't make balloons lift up higher, just last longer, just some random fyi**
After dinner we tied the pacifiers onto the balloons and brought them outside. A gust of wind took Avey's balloon out of my hands and up and away before we officially let it go. That surprised Jack and made him even more apprehensive of actually letting his go. He kept asking Eric to let go for him but daddy told him that he had to do it. It took him about 7 minutes to finally let go.
Posing for the bye-bye pacifier party.
He kept saying I can't do it, I can't let it go. He was really processing what was going on, and was so sad about the whole thing. Finally he and Eric let go of the balloon together and we watched it go up high.
He kept saying, Buzz bring it back to me. And we kept telling him that Buzz would not bring it back, it would be gone forever. I truly think this was the first time he had to process permanently saying goodbye to something. It was so sad it was inspiring.
I wish I could say they cried it out one or two nights and they were good to go, but it has been pretty hard going cold turkey on these kiddos. Jack has been sleeping three hours less than usual, and Avey since she had no idea what was going on, was sad everytime we put her down for a nap or bed for two weeks. They are finally getting more settled though, and we're trying to decide if Jack doesn't need a nap now that he doesn't have a pacifier, or if he still needs one and is sleep deprived, and we just need to give it another week or so to get back on his schedule. We moved their bedtime up to 8 PM, to help them be a little more tired, and finally after almost three weeks they are getting a little better.
Sooo, for weeks leading up to our Disneyland trip I prepped Jack. I told him after Disneyland we were going to have a big party and tie his passie to a balloon and let it go in the sky and we would say good-bye to it. He understood really well what was going to happen by the time the big day rolled around.
We weren't sure if we were going to also let Avey's go as well, but I finally decided we would just lose hers too since it wasn't helping that much at church, and I was afraid Jack would go in her crib and smother her in her sleep to steal her passie. So I tried to prep Avey, but she had no clue what was going to happen or what was going on when the big day arrived.
We made a big deal of going to the store and choosing a balloon to tie his pacifier to. He chose two balloons - Elmo and Mickey Mouse. (So we could have one balloon after we let the other ones go.) And Avey chose a princess balloon. ***In case you're wondering, the cheapest mylar balloons are at Dollar Tree for $1. Honks doesn't even have them for $1, they're $1.25- and the Party stores are crazy at like $3.15 each for the smallest ones. But then if you need other latex balloons they are cheapest at the party store, .59-.75 each, while they are $1 each still at Dollar Tree and Honks. Just to save some of you time in case you need some cheap balloons. Hi Float doesn't make balloons lift up higher, just last longer, just some random fyi**
After dinner we tied the pacifiers onto the balloons and brought them outside. A gust of wind took Avey's balloon out of my hands and up and away before we officially let it go. That surprised Jack and made him even more apprehensive of actually letting his go. He kept asking Eric to let go for him but daddy told him that he had to do it. It took him about 7 minutes to finally let go.
Posing for the bye-bye pacifier party.
He kept saying I can't do it, I can't let it go. He was really processing what was going on, and was so sad about the whole thing. Finally he and Eric let go of the balloon together and we watched it go up high.
He kept saying, Buzz bring it back to me. And we kept telling him that Buzz would not bring it back, it would be gone forever. I truly think this was the first time he had to process permanently saying goodbye to something. It was so sad it was inspiring.
Then we came inside to eat ice cream and cookies, because this was a party- right? :)
I wish I could say they cried it out one or two nights and they were good to go, but it has been pretty hard going cold turkey on these kiddos. Jack has been sleeping three hours less than usual, and Avey since she had no idea what was going on, was sad everytime we put her down for a nap or bed for two weeks. They are finally getting more settled though, and we're trying to decide if Jack doesn't need a nap now that he doesn't have a pacifier, or if he still needs one and is sleep deprived, and we just need to give it another week or so to get back on his schedule. We moved their bedtime up to 8 PM, to help them be a little more tired, and finally after almost three weeks they are getting a little better.
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Everly is so addicted...I dread the day we say goodbye. I doubt we'll do it at age 2...she's so hard I'll do anything to make sleep/naps easier.
I actually cried reading this.