No more pacifiers

We had both kids perminantly give up their pacifiers this month. We went to build-a-bear to get stuffed animals as a trade in/reward for giving away the last pacifiers. I've been looking forward to this for years because I love the concept of build a bear! Jared got a crocodile because he's really interested in crocodiles these days. It was an unusual animal that our local store didn't carry, so we had to order it special. Then we had it at our house for three days. During that whole time I'd show him the box and even let him peek in it and see that it was a crocodile, but I wouldn't let him get it out of the box. Then the day before we went to the store I had him collect all the pacifiers in the house and put them in one box (all except for one). Then we threw the box into the garbage and he said "bye bye" to them. At the store he put the last pacifier inside the crocodile as they were filling it up. And that was it!

He had a little bit of a rough time remembering that the pacifiers were gone. He kept asking for one over several days and would get sad when I reminded him that we threw them away and he's a big boy now and doesn't need one. He didn't throw any huge fits though. I think he accepted it quite well. And now he doesn't even ask for any.

Kayla got an animal too (the dog in the picture), but she didn't understand the process. For her it was just having a pacifier one day and then not the next. She seemed to accept it really easy the first couple days. But now I'm having a really hard time getting her to go to sleep. She seems to hate her bed and the rocking chair. She can be practically asleep already, but if she feels she's being moved to one of those place she will immediately wake up and cry and squirm. I'm hoping we get into a new groove soon. But overall I think the big pacifier wean has been a success!