A failed attempt

I have been wanting to completely eliminate Lincoln's pacifier for some time now.  For the most part, it has been confined to his crib since he was 12 months old, but it is still a pain to try and remember and keep track of it, not to mention the gross factor (which tends to bug me less the older he gets).  Plus, if you ever forget to put it up in the closet, Lincoln will find it and secretly skulk about his room or behind furniture sneaking sucks on it.  The last straw occurred last week when I spent 15 minutes at bedtime using to two bendy straws to try and extract both pacifiers from behind the radiator covers in the living room where he had secretly stashed them earlier in the day.

So I decided this week was going to be the week.  Austin was gone to a meeting/conference for work.  On Monday night I snipped the end off one of his pacifiers and told him it was broken.  He quickly confirmed that.  I told him he was a big boy and didn't need a pacifier.  He gave me a very sad look and said, "Okay" and laid down.  I thought, "That was easy!"  That was not the end of it, though.  He was still whimpering sadly when I checked on him 30 min. later.  It was rather heart-breaking.  I ended up rocking/cuddling/sitting in his room until 11:00pm.  It was actually kind of bittersweet, and I spent a long time reflecting on things.

The next day he ran to his crib for nap time until he remembered about the pacifier.  Then he refused to nap.  I soon gave up and we went outside to enjoy the last really nice day of fall.  He was up late again at night, but pure exhaustion took over by 9:00pm.

On Wednesday at nap time I knew he was really tired because he almost fell asleep in my lap reading books.  However, when I put him in bed he whimpered/cried for 30 min. and then played/chattered for 30 min.  No nap again.  By this time I'm scared that I might have ruined nap time for good.  I'm ready to give the pacifier back in return for naps again. 

I tried once more to go without the pacifier at night.  After 1 1/2 hours of on/off crying and him soaking two different pajamas with tears, snot and drool, I gave Lincoln the last pacifier back at 9:00pm.  He is coming down with a little cold, and we have company coming for Emily's birthday, so I decided it just wasn't worth it.  He slept until 7:30am and then took a 2 hour nap this afternoon.  It was the right decision.  I'm just going to call it a failed experiment.  And I'm going to get some new pacifiers the next time I'm at Target. ;o)

This is Lincoln napping peacefully after getting his pacifier back even though he doesn't necessarily use it when sleeping.