May 7, 2018… we finally had success with Isaac giving up his pacifier!!!
It happened over a weekend in the most unusual, unexpected and unplanned way…
It was a Friday afternoon when we got back home from the doctor and a haircut. My son wanted to stay outside to play. Our rule was if you want to play outside, no pacifier. He set it down on the picnic table so I picked it up. When he was done playing, we brought the dogs inside and had a snack. Later on that afternoon, when he asked for the pacifier, I forgot where I had put it [and I knew if I said I didn’t know where it was I would have to go looking] so I improvised …
“I don’t have it” I said “momma bird came and picked it up for her babies.”
He looked at me puzzled at first, then got a little sad and cried for about 10 seconds… but he bought it and managed to get over it for the moment as I hugged him.
I know… birds don’t use pacifiers but for some reason it’s what came out of my mouth in a split second and it worked. I had tried other things like telling him the pacifier fairy needs it for other babies but he didn’t go for that.
I called my husband and told him so he and my daughter could stay consistent with the story. We all played along.
That night at bed, we continued the charade. Normally it sat in a basket where we kept the pacifier and his favorite turtle. Friday… only turtle remained. Andy reminded him … “momma bird came and got it for her babies… remember.”
He nodded and again he cried a little but was able to move on.
Friday night we opted to give the pacifier if he woke because sleep was too important to all of us. He ended up in our bed at one point so once he fell asleep, we took the pacifier before he woke up.
Saturday he woke without it, asked and we reminded him about momma bird. He got past it and went out with Andy most of the day to do errands.
That night .. no pacifier and he zonked pretty easily.
He woke in the middle of the night and we opted again to give him his pacifier just so we could all get some sleep. Well, that night we all fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up til morning. When he got up in the morning, he still had his pacifier and was pretty pleased about it. We had to think fast.
I told Andy… “tell him momma bird must have forgotten one and we have to go give it to her.”
When he took the dogs out, he brought our son with him and told him he had to put it on the picnic table for her to pick up. He did! Then Andy quickly picked it up and my son actually looked for momma bird.
That was pretty much the end of the pacifier but we had to seal the deal.
Later that day I went out to the store on my own and found him a really cool new toy – a hot wheels semi-truck that could carry 2 cars inside! The plan… to leave it in the car and have my husband bring it in the next morning.
So Monday came, the dog had to be walked and my husband went to the car to get the bag. He came in with the plastic bag in hand saying “look what momma bird brought you! She wanted to say thank you for leaving the pacifiers!” My son was beaming.
And that was that. No more pacifier!
The stories we tell to move our children through life sometimes. It’s what memories are made of. =)
