No paci!!!

So I have a whole lot to share including our recent trip to Louisiana and Ethan's first camping trip this weekend!

Until then though, I have to share our big news! A couple of weeks ago I picked up Ethan on a Thursday afternoon from Preschool and his daily report said, "Congratulations to Ethan, one whole week without a paci!" I turned right around and went back to his room to talk to his teachers. Apparently for a couple of weeks before that he wasn't even using his paci to go to sleep, he was just throwing it down by his mat. Then on the Tuesday of that week Jessica couldn't find his paci in his bag before he was already asleep. She assumed I had taken it away and they didn't even look for it on Wednesday or Thursday of that week. Even though Ethan was not using one at preschool I didn't even try to take it away at home.

Then last Friday Ethan spent the night at our friend Betsy's house. I had related the above story to her so she took Ethan's paci from him for his nap the day that he spent at her house. I couldn't believe he just went to sleep with out it so when we got home that day I did not return his pacis to his bed for his afternoon nap and he went right to sleep! He also went right to sleep that night. Incredible! Since then we have been paci free. He has only asked for it a couple of times and he has started to put his fingers in his mouth when he is idly doing something (reading or watching TV) but we are staying on top of that. Half the reason I gave him a paci as an infant was so that he would not suck on his fingers.

Although I'm making this sound easy it definitely wasn't (for me at least)! It is really hard not to give something to your child that you know gives him comfort. I even teared up when I had to tell him "There are no pacis, they are all gone." We rejoice whenever our children reach a new milestone; crawling, walking, feeding themselves, etc. but to watch Ethan give up his bottle and now his paci is bittersweet in that he is a little less of a baby now. Do any other moms out there struggle with these steps? I want him to grow up and I definitely am grateful that this hasn't been a really bad struggle, but I still mourn the loss of his infanthood.

Happier posts to come! In the meantime I have created a new site on shutterfly. It allows us to post an infinite number of posts and projects that I have created. If you can't view the site let me know.