Pacifier weaning (Update pt. 4)

While my mom was here, I mentioned that I wanted to try to get Colin to not be as reliant on his pacifier anymore. 14 months isn't by any standard TOO OLD to be using a pacifier. But...it's one less thing to remember, one less thing to keep clean, one less thing to take away when he's older. It's not that he uses it constantly. He uses it when he sleeps and naps, and about 1/3 of the time he's awake (if he's in a good mood).

Day 1 was horrible. We went grocery shopping, which he usually does just fine with because he loves to ride in the cart. And we rarely bring his pacifier in the store with us anyway. But, since he hadn't had his pacifier all day as it was, he threw an absolute fit almost the entire time we were there.

Day 2 was less horrible.

Day 3 was just as horrible as Day 2, but you could tell he was so distraught over the trauma.

Day 4 in the morning, I was talking to some co-workers who, when I mentioned I had decided to take the nukie away, immediately looked at me with horror-stricken faces and said "WHY!??!" I didn't really have an answer for them. One mother of 3 told me that when her kids were done with them, they were done. One threw the pacifier across the room and never looked back. The youngest opened the trash, spit his pacifier into it, shut it, and went about his merry way. Then I got to thinking...Colin doesn't have a blanket or a stuffed animal or any other sort of "luvey" that he's attached to. His pacifier is what he's attached to. And if that means we have to take it with us (almost) everywhere we go, then so be it. It's a lot better than dragging around something 100x its size.

So...it's his. Until some professional tells me he's developing an overbite. Or until he decides he's ready to give it up. Or until he goes to kindergarten.