Judah is between a rock and a hard place. Poor guy is three years old. That is such a hard year. They have to go from being a "baby" to being a "big boy" and they want to, but then they don't. It's hard to accept the fact that if you want the privileges of being a "big boy" then you have to take on responsibilities as well. On the one hand he has Isaac and Drew, who can do so much more and seem so cool, and he wants to be just like them. On the other hand he has Bobby, who is so cute and everyone loves and cuddles him, and he wants the attention that he gets from Mom and Dad. What's a little guy to do?
Between two years old and 4 years old is the time that my little ones potty train (check,) move from a crib to a bed (check,) move to a real seat at the table (check,) and give up their pacifiers AKA "Bubbas" (not check.) I have been putting off taking his nighttime pacifier away for a long time. The girls are the only other ones that really ever took a pacifier and we took it away before they were three. I mentioned recently that the dentist told us it is time because his bite is getting messed up now. We have a big trip coming up that I didn't want to be dealing with that during the trip so we decided to do it soon to give him time to adjust in case he needed it.
Some background about Judah and his Bubbas. When he was a baby, newly unswaddled, he would go to sleep on his own in his crib with one Bubba in his mouth and one in each hand. He was so attached to them that I put a net bumper around his crib to keep them from falling out. When we moved to Germany a little over a year ago, I took the netting off and told him he could only have one in his crib from then on. He handled that pretty well, except for when he dropped that Bubba and couldn't reach it through the rails of his crib and he would call for me in the middle of the night to get it for him. Really that didn't happen often, but it was enough to make me realize that he really was dependent on that thing to sleep. This made me hesitant to take it away when I had an infant that wasn't sleeping through the night. Now my infant is a toddler and sleeps through the night, and has for a long time. I guess I have no excuse.
We talked about it for about a week after the dental appointment, explaining that very soon we were going to have to give the Bubbas up to a baby because Judah is too big now for Bubbas. He kept telling me, "Sure, sure. At Christmas Mama." I kept on saying that it would be very soon, but he was sick and so I was waiting to put a time on it until I knew he felt good again. We asked if he wanted to give the Bubbas to a baby that he knew and he chose a friend's baby, Michael. He doesn't use pacifiers, but I spoke with his mom and she said she'd play along. That friend was coming over for the Super Bowl party and so we decided he was well and ready to do it then. Earlier in the day, he and I went to the store and picked out a gift. I did this with the girls. They both picked out stuffed dogs to sleep with instead of their Bubbas. He did the same thing and picked a very cute, soft doggie. However, he also wanted an action figure. He had some Christmas money from my uncle, and so I let him also pick out one action figure with his money. He chose a big Falcon action figure. He slept with that thing and the dog and his Grumpy Cat (long time cuddle friend since he turned one) for almost the whole week and now he is back to sleeping with Grumpy Cat and his doggie, that he named "Shooting Star," lays next to him. Falcon is usually with the toys now.
He did a great job and occasionally still gets in his bed and looks for his Bubba, but then he says, "Oh, yeah!" and lays down without a fight. I'm in shock. I was ready for a good fight, but he did it all so well. I guess his desires to be a "big boy" are outweighing the desires to remain my baby forever.
Between two years old and 4 years old is the time that my little ones potty train (check,) move from a crib to a bed (check,) move to a real seat at the table (check,) and give up their pacifiers AKA "Bubbas" (not check.) I have been putting off taking his nighttime pacifier away for a long time. The girls are the only other ones that really ever took a pacifier and we took it away before they were three. I mentioned recently that the dentist told us it is time because his bite is getting messed up now. We have a big trip coming up that I didn't want to be dealing with that during the trip so we decided to do it soon to give him time to adjust in case he needed it.
Some background about Judah and his Bubbas. When he was a baby, newly unswaddled, he would go to sleep on his own in his crib with one Bubba in his mouth and one in each hand. He was so attached to them that I put a net bumper around his crib to keep them from falling out. When we moved to Germany a little over a year ago, I took the netting off and told him he could only have one in his crib from then on. He handled that pretty well, except for when he dropped that Bubba and couldn't reach it through the rails of his crib and he would call for me in the middle of the night to get it for him. Really that didn't happen often, but it was enough to make me realize that he really was dependent on that thing to sleep. This made me hesitant to take it away when I had an infant that wasn't sleeping through the night. Now my infant is a toddler and sleeps through the night, and has for a long time. I guess I have no excuse.
We talked about it for about a week after the dental appointment, explaining that very soon we were going to have to give the Bubbas up to a baby because Judah is too big now for Bubbas. He kept telling me, "Sure, sure. At Christmas Mama." I kept on saying that it would be very soon, but he was sick and so I was waiting to put a time on it until I knew he felt good again. We asked if he wanted to give the Bubbas to a baby that he knew and he chose a friend's baby, Michael. He doesn't use pacifiers, but I spoke with his mom and she said she'd play along. That friend was coming over for the Super Bowl party and so we decided he was well and ready to do it then. Earlier in the day, he and I went to the store and picked out a gift. I did this with the girls. They both picked out stuffed dogs to sleep with instead of their Bubbas. He did the same thing and picked a very cute, soft doggie. However, he also wanted an action figure. He had some Christmas money from my uncle, and so I let him also pick out one action figure with his money. He chose a big Falcon action figure. He slept with that thing and the dog and his Grumpy Cat (long time cuddle friend since he turned one) for almost the whole week and now he is back to sleeping with Grumpy Cat and his doggie, that he named "Shooting Star," lays next to him. Falcon is usually with the toys now.
He did a great job and occasionally still gets in his bed and looks for his Bubba, but then he says, "Oh, yeah!" and lays down without a fight. I'm in shock. I was ready for a good fight, but he did it all so well. I guess his desires to be a "big boy" are outweighing the desires to remain my baby forever.
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