"Nee"

Note: This is a long post for my benefit in the future, you will probably find it boring:)

Cayden has always called his pacifier a "nee" not sure why, but regardless the name stuck.

I had no problem letting him use his nee in the beginning because I realized that I was going to be his pacifier or I could let him have a NUK. I chose the pacifier because nursing every 2 hours was about to "do me in" as it was.

Fast forward 2 years (WOW Time Flies!)He still has his pacifier, but only at nap/night time, in fact that was really the only time he's ever had it, except for the first couple of months. Cayden has always gone to bed wonderfully. You give him his blanket and nee and he is out without a fuss. (I tried taking his nee away around 1, but he cried and cried, and I didn't want to ruin a good thing with how easy he went to bed, so I let him have it.)

For the last few months I've been telling Cayden that when he turns 2 he will be a big boy so he will have to throw away his nee. On his birthday he said, "yuk throw it away" and so I let him throw his nee into the trash can (we were at my cousin Wade and Michelle's b/c we were going to the zoo for his birthday) as we left he wanted his nee and wanted us to stop so he could go back and get it. It was sad, but he did well. He went all day without a nap b/c he didn't have his nee and then cried for a loooong time that night. I finally gave him the nee when he started to calm himself by putting his fingers in his mouth. I'd rather him have his nee longer then have him suck his fingers, b/c those can't be taken away.

Then the other day, my friend Sarah said her son Levi had gone a few days with out his Nuk and I thought it was great she was doing it now, b/c he'd just get more attached later. I realized the same was probably true for Cayden too. So that day I tried to take his nee away at his nap. I thought if he laid with me it would soften the "blow." I told him he was a big boy and only babies needed nee's and he said, "no, Cayden baby, Cayden need it" and then he just cried and looked at me with big pleading eyes and said, "pleeeaaase" (while signing the word too, as tears streamed down his chubby little cheeks). That's where I caved.

If I knew it was unsafe/unhealthy for him to have his nee it would have been easier for me to be stronger, but I wasn't sure I wanted to make him go through all that b/c he went to bed so easily. I wanted to make sure I wasn't just taking it away b/c I was afraid of what other people would think, but that it was actually for his own good.

So when Brandon got home we talked about our options and how we were going to go about helping Cayden get rid of his nee. My friend Sarah had mentioned how she heard of some people cutting the Nuk a little at a time so it wasn't the same suction or something. The idea stuck and so we decided to do that. I'll explain how that went in another post.