The Shrinking Paci

I'm so sick of seeing Anna walk around with a paci in her mouth these days. Just recently she seems to be more attached to it and wants it all the time - not just for sleeping. We've been talking about getting rid of it, but just like potty training, I have to gear myself up for it. I don't want to take it away and then give in and give it back to her. We were going to just "give" them away to another baby but a friend suggested yesterday that I just cut off the tip (thanks, Alana).

This morning I just decided to go for it. I hid all her pacis except the one I cut and gave that one to her. She looked at it like "something's wrong!" She took it out of her mouth, put it back in, took it out again and looked at it and told me "no." She did that a few more times and then sucked her thumb for a second before she started playing and forgot it. When we settled down to watch a movie right before lunch, she fussed for her paci so I gave her the new one. She does NOT like it. She put it in her mouth for a few seconds and then stood up and brought it to me. I praised her and Jack told her "Good job, Anna. You're a big girl now!"

She asked for her paci when I put her down for a nap and I gave it to her. She took one look at it, gave it back to me, and stuck her thumb in her mouth! I knew she would use that as a backup and that's fine with me, because she can't suck her thumb while playing, which is what I hate about the paci. We will see how this goes, but so far, so good!