During what was supposed to be Dylan's nap time, I heard the pitter patter of little feet coming down the hall. He slowly came around the corner and peeked at me to gage my reaction. I gave him the disapproving-mom look and he slowly came to sit by me. I talked to him about not taking a nap and then let him stay next to me. Here is some of our conversation:Mommy: "Dylan, if you're not going to take a nap, you need to take your paci out"
Dylan: takes a few extra sucks, removes paci from mouth and places it next to me, smiles at me and says "Mommy, do you feel happy?"
Mommy: Laughs at the idea of a 2-year-old asking about my feelings and says "Yes!"
Later on, he was playing with his Thomas the Train set, putting the track together by himself. He says to me "Mom, I need more pieces." So I decide to respond by saying "Mommy and Daddy want to buy you more train track. It will be a special present for you when you decide to say bye-bye to your paci. It is a present for a big boy so you need to be ready to go to bed without a paci. Let me know when you're ready to say bye-bye to your paci and we will buy you more train track." He says okay and keeps playing with his trains for about 20 minutes. Then he says out of the blue "Bye bye paci!" I am quite surprised and question him about if he is really ready. He continues to tell me he is ready and I called Jason and Dylan left him a voicemail saying bye bye to his paci and he is ready for his train track. After dinner, Jason and Dylan head out to buy the present and Dylan proceeds to fall asleep in the car and doesn't wake up during the purchase, the ride home, or the transfer to bed. Therefore: first night without a paci (thanks to being dog-tired after skipping his nap). He woke up at 5:30am asking for his paci repeatedly. I took him into the play room and his jaw dropped at the sight! I had his paci's lined up on the couch with a garbage can next to it and we had a little ceremony where he threw them in the can. He stayed up playing with his trains while mommy went back to bed and later joined me (with a paci recovered from the garbage can). I got rid of the paci's in the morning and nap time was pretty painful. He first screamed in anger and told me he didn't want his train, then cried like he had lost a friend. My heart was breaking!! I stood firm and he ended up crying himself to sleep. Much to my surprise, at bed time he didn't even ask for his paci!? But...he wanted to party, I think because he wasn't sure how to fall asleep. I was a bit of a pushover under the circumstances and let him fall asleep to a movie. I have actually felt a little sad by the whole process because it is a reminder of how quickly he is growing up.
