So Long Pacy

Naomi has always been a creature of habit. She remembers everything and thinks things should always be done the same. Just last night when putting her to bed I tried to sing her "It is well with my soul" because it was the song playing on her CD while I was reading a book to her. She started crying saying, "no". Then I started singing the lullaby Spencer wrote for her that we always sing at bedtime and she went straight to bed.

Even though we have only used the pacy at nap and nighttime for a long time, I was afraid getting rid of the pacy for good would be a struggle because she has always slept with her blankie and pacy and for the last year her cabbage patch doll, "Shay" (Shayla Magdalina, but we call her Shay for short :)) However, the last several months Naomi has been very particular about her pacies. She only wanted the yellow or pink one and she started mostly chewing on them. We had recently bought new ones and she was already chewing a hole in them. I told her if she continued biting them they would be "all gone".

Well, they were almost "all gone" on our trip to Mississippi so to avoid major "trauma" of no pacy on our trip, Spencer bought two new pacies.




Naomi wanted nothing to do with them though. She stuck out her tongue and would say "yucky"! So we continued to let her use the pink pacy that was almost in pieces and was probably a major choking hazard. When we got home we tore the part of the pacy off that had been chewed on so only a little "stub" was left. We showed Naomi that the pink pacy was "all gone" (we already threw the yellow one away), and told her she could use the new pacies if she wanted. She still wanted nothing to do with them and wouldn't take one to go to bed at all!

I was afraid we were in for a long night of her waking up wanting her pacy and crying, but she slept fine! She hadn't been taking as long of naps and I don't know if the pacy was the problem or not, but she slept over 2 hours yesterday. She doesn't hardly talk about the pacy anymore! I would have never guessed it would have been this easy with her.

Each "baby" phase that passes is a little sad for me, but I'd much rather it be easy like this than a struggle! Naomi has had a pacy since day one because the first night in the hospital the nurses gave Naomi a pacy. I was worried that it would be a problem since I was nursing her, but the lactation consultant said her babies always had pacies and nursed fine. She said, babies know where the milk comes from, they aren't dumb. I know it might not be easy for every baby, but I'm thankful it was for Naomi. If I ever have another baby I would happily use a pacy again. It helped us greatly in situations like church or the grocery store and I think it helped Naomi learn early how to comfort herself. I will always remember my sweet little girl and her love for her pacy!