Unplugged

As I sit here and type this blog post I am being yelled for through the baby monitor.  I put the twins down for their afternoon nap about an hour ago without pacifiers and Abigail is still awake even though I can hear her yawn between singing and crying.  I am trying to be strong...really I am.

Going HOME! (10 days old)

Tanner and Abigail were given pacifiers the day they were born by the nurses in the NICU at Maine Medical Center.  Back then the Soothie Pacifiers were almost the size of their face.

Face to Face (1 month old)

We registered for a few Tommee Tippee pacifiers to go along with the bottles that we wanted but in the end we hardly used them because Tanner and Abigail preferred the Soothie ones.  We came home with lots of them from the hospital so there were plenty to go around.  Matt and I are not against pacifiers like some parents but we did try to limit the amount of time that they had them.  We used them for naptime, bedtime, the occasional melt down, and long road trips.

Afternoon siesta. (2 months old)

Pretty soon we were only using them for naptime and bedtime, which has been the case up to now.  Tanner and Abigail will be three years old on May 15th and they both have a mouth full of teeth so we have decided (due in part to my mother-in-law's encouragement) that it is time to be done with "pacis".

"Baby Burritos" ready for a nap. (3 months old)

I asked other moms for advice and received several wonderful ideas:

Cara Moore wrote:  "This is what my co-worker did; packed up all the pacifiers in the house and put them in an envelope addressed to "The Pacifier Fairy" and mailed it.  She told her child it was time for the fairy to give them to babies who needed them."

Lynn Tauss wrote:  "I still remember what I did, back in the day.  I changed to a different brand/type, told him that was all there was now that he could not have the old kind. He didn't like the new ones and just stopped."

Amy Brodis wrote:  "I've heard of moms snipping the ends of the pacifier with scissors so that there is a hole in it.  I guess it makes it so they aren't getting the same sensation when they suck on it so they lose interest."

"Mute" buttons given to us by Matt's coworker. (5 months old)

In the end, my mother in law took the bull by the horns while Matt and I were away at a Super Bowl party (in the back of my mind, I knew she would).  I left their pacifiers on their headboards like I always do, but when she and her Grandpa put them down for the night she said she couldn't find them (really?).  When Abigail asked for her "paci" Grammy told her that Daddy had them and would bring them home later.  I guess she bought that...for a little while.  After Grammy and Grandpa left the room Abigail began to sing and talk until Tanner said, "Be quiet Abby."  Eventually Tanner fell asleep but Abigail began to cry at which point Grammy called us asking where the spare pacifiers were.  I guess they caved and gave her one and eventually she fell asleep.  We returned home later and were woken up by Abigail around 4:00 a.m.  Tanner slept the whole night in his bed with NO pacifier!

The next day I was afraid to do naps without them because I had company coming over and I didn't want to deal with crying children while I was entertaining (excuses, excuses...I know).  That night while we each dressed a Twinkie for bedtime, Matt and I talked about being a "Big Boy/Girl" and how pacifiers are for babies, blah, blah, blah.  After reading a few stories we put them to bed without pacifiers...Tanner went right to sleep...Abigail not so much.  She whined/cried for about 20 minutes (while I was going CRAZY listening to her on the monitor) and then fell asleep and slept through the night!

Today I was brave and put them down for their nap without pacifiers.  Tanner finished his lunch first so he had a five minute head start (thank God).  I put Abigail down and within two minutes she was singing every song in her repertoire (which is quite extensive thanks to Music Together).  This quickly developed into jumping up and down in her crib shouting, "Tanny wake up" and then to crying/whining/shouting for Mommy.  She began saying, "Mommy I hurt my chin (probably from jumping).  Come kiss my boo-boo and get me out."  After one hour and ten minutes of shenanigans, she fell asleep.  I am not sure how Tanner slept through it all...he is amazing!

I am just thankful they aren't thumb-suckers (knock on wood) because you can't take a kids thumbs away (right?).  Eventually this will be another milestone that Tanner and Abigail will have achieved until then we will keep plugging, or should I say "unplugging" along.