Hold the Pacis, Please

Big news at our house! After 3 weeks, 1 bedroom move, lots of tears and lots of TV, we are now 100% pacifier free. Woot woot! The kicker? Jared was out of town on a fishing trip during those first days and we did it cold turkey. I know....I'm insane.


I've always known that the pacis wouldn't be with us forever, but for the last year or so I've been anxious about the girls' attachment and ability to give up their beloved piece of rubber. I've read lots of articles on when and how the paci should go and I was confident that "when the time was right" the girls would naturally -and on their own- give up their beloved pacifier.

Oh...excuse me, I have a knock on the front door.............I'm back, it was Mr. Reality letting me know I was kidding myself.

Not only were the girls no where near giving up their paci on their own, but it seemed as if they were both becoming more and more attached to it as the days went by. We had started restricting the pacifiers to nap time, car time and bedtime. Well, it got to the point that Jillian was completely happy in her crib during the day just so she could have her paci. It wasn't nap time, she would just sit in their and suck on that paci until her heart was content.


So, at that point I knew it was time to intervene. Besides, if I wasn't constantly on the prowl for a lost pacifier, or crawling under a crib at 2am to find one that dropped, I was playing referee between two girls stealing each others pacifiers and making each other cry. The routine was becoming old enough to make me want to sacrifice my own sanity and sleep to help them kick their habits.

One of the last pictures of the girls with their pacis. They were snuggling together in Jenna's bed after nappy time. :)

So one night I just decided that "tonight was the night." Unfortunately, I was have a delusional moment of insanity...I decided to do it the night before Jared left home for a fishing trip to Canada.  Using the Paci Princess method (from Supernanny) I sat the girls down just before bed and showed them a picture of the Paci Princess and then a bunch more pictures of babies with pacifiers in their mouths. I told them how the Paci Princess takes the pacifiers that the big girls leave for her and gives them to the babies that need them. We had the pacis in a pile, the special gift bags, and magic sparkles. They willingly put their pacifiers in the bag and then put the magic sparkles (confetti) in the bags and we left them on the counter and I put them in their beds for the night.


Jenna's pacis ready for the Paci Princess

Jillian's pacis ready for the Paci Princess

Amazingly enough, Jenna only cried the first night for about 5 minutes. She talked for almost 2 and a half hours but eventually fell asleep on her own. In typical fashion, Jillian cried for over an hour and I was so happy when she was finally asleep 2 hours later. They actually slept really well, all through night, and the next morning both girls wanted to see if the Paci Princess took the pacis. Success! Not only had the Princess taken the pacis, but she left the girls gifts for being so brave.

The Paci Princess

The next several days were really rough. Nap times were hard and almost non-existant, night time was hard, in between time was hard. They were extremely emotional and sensitive, they asked about their pacifiers quite a bit. I would say within a day or two of Jared getting back home they were finally starting to get on track with normal nap and bedtimes. Of course, that was only after I permanently separated them. Up until now the girls shared a room. They've slept separately for nap time since about 6 months old, but at night they shared a room (they each had their own bed). Well, not anymore. Jenna's crib is now in the playroom and Jillian has their room to herself.

Prizes from the Paci Princess

At some point Jared and I would like them to go back to sharing a room. Not only because of space issues but we feel that sharing could bring them closer, as well as help them to learn how to share, get along, and learn boundary rules more easily. Since the move, they've had a growing attachment to babies. Lots of babies... the more the better. Each girl probably has about 4-6 babies in her bed on any given night. They aren't necesarrily the same babies tho which is fine by me. The less attachment the better in my book. The lovies are still in the forefront by the way, for those wondering. I can't figure out the baby obsession but I guess they just get lonely being in separate rooms now and need the company. :(

Jillian having fun in the pool and not missing her paci at all!

Jenna looks sad but she is just thinking...she is the thoughtful one. :)



Jenna & Jilly enjoying each other, the sun, and their pool

 Anyhoo, it has been three weeks and I haven't been asked in at least a week about a pacifier. It was really neat though. Every time one of the girls did ask me about a pacifier I would turn it around back to them. They were able to answer who took their paci (princess) and where she took it (babies) each time I asked. :) I will say the girls are much less cranky without pacis (now that they've adjusted that is). They sing a lot more now too which is really fun! Hopefully one of these days I can get a really good video of their singing talents. They are such hams that every time I turn on the camcorder all they want to do is say "cheese!"


More to Come....



PS: click HERE to see all the latest pictures