Pacifier Free

Well, I feel like we can officially say, "We did it!"

This was a long 2.5 weeks.  Not going to lie.

We have been talking with Carter about how his pacifiers are getting "old and yucky"  and that he "probably doesn't even need them anymore because he's such a big boy."  But we were still hanging on to the last one as long as we had it.  Not just for him either....we were really liking where he was in his sleep habits.  It was just too easy.  AND we had just overcome Night Time Potty Training.  So we were kind of needing a break.  But he bit the final pacifier in half.  So I took that as my cue from him.  He didn't really like it and easily accepted throwing it in the trash.

John was out of town the night he threw it away.  It was rough.  Difficult to sleep and exhausting during a wake up in the middle of the night and tiring as he woke up early.  Then continue that with a no nap.

It was sad.

For two days.

Then he wasn't sad, just tired and needed help falling asleep.

We really just felt bad for him.  So he (we) got extra cuddles and even cuddled in our bed.  But he really prefers his own.  It was quite the process every night though.

Week 2 was much better.  But major tweaking on the sleep schedule.  Still took about 1-2 hours to fall asleep.  There was LOTS of playing in the crib.

There was also lots of this:

(iphone photo, sorry)

I found him like this several times.

Trying or successfully taking off all of his clothes.

(Yes, I blurred his private area.  There are crazy people out there!)

And there was the Strip Naked and Take Everything Out of My Crib.

P.S.  Notice the matt and stool on the right of his crib?  Game Ball.  Ever heard of it?  You haven't??  Where are you FROM?  Okay, Carter made up a game.  There are rules.  I'll post on this later.  It's a funny attempt to stay awake for 5 more minutes.

Back to Pacifier Free..

Week 3:  Last weekend kicked off with John using his "Dad Voice" for the first (of many to come) in his life on Saturday's nap..."CARTER LAY DOWN, CLOSE YOUR EYES, and GO TO SLEEP."

Low and behold...it worked!  We remind him when he lays down, "you don't play in your bed, you need to lay down and close your eyes."  And he tells us when he wakes up that he "lay down, close eyes and sleep."  So I'm guessing that explanation.

We seem to be back on track this week.  Of course, the underwear-off thing surprised the babysitter!  Ha ha.  I got a text from her about that!!  I should have warned her!

The next BIG sleep change will be moving to a Big Boy Bed.  I can't wait to get one so we can actually do his room the way we want it!  But he is happy in his hand-me-down Ikea bed and I'm not messing with that!!  :)