Pacifier-free--Day 2.5

We've officially taken away Gannon's pacifier ("paci"). Since he's 3 years old now, I figured he really didn't need it anymore. The real question is if Mommy & Daddy "need" it!!! We tried to prepare Gannon a few weeks before his birthday. We told him that Swiper the fox (from Dora the Explorer) was going to come take his paci and give it to a baby that needed it. I'm not sure if this was a better route versus just having him throw them away himself, but that's what we did. I'll just have to explain to his therapist later in life that I told him a lie and cut him off cold turkey. Leading up to the paci removal, I kept asking Jamie if he was emotionally ready to give it up, since as parents, we depend on the paci, too! Sometimes the paci is the easy way to calm Gannon down in the car, it is always what helps him go to sleep. What are we to do without it? Jamie wasn't fully ready, and I'm not sure if I was or not. But, Swiper came and snatched the paci during the night Friday. We figured Gannon would wake up a couple hours later and not go back to sleep (assuming the worst). But, he slept until 5:00 and then went back to sleep fairly easily after Jamie told him it was gone. Last night he wasn't able to go to sleep without one of us sitting in his room for a while. He really does depend on it to help him drift off. Naptimes just simply haven't happened. He can't settle down. The good news is that he hasn't asked for it at all during the day! And last night he slept straight through the night without waking up at all---yippee!!

He's definitely and officially a Big Boy now. He's diaper-free, paci-free and ready for college....Not!