Election night marked Bug’s first night’s sleep without a pacifier. He is 2 1/2 this month and I’ve felt for a while that his addiction should be over but I never had the heart to just cold turkey take it from him. This is not how I planned on this happening… but sometimes the things you don’t plan on end up being for the best.

How it happened looked something like this:

Me: “I’m leaving to go hang out with a few girlfriends, let me know if you need anything, see you around 9!”

Ben: “Mphhhh,” watching Election coverage.

15 minutes later…

Bug, outraged: “My pascie no working!” (holding his pacifier with a very small hole)

“Well, that is the only one we have so make it work,” Ben said. (I’m paraphrasing here based on hearing this from Ben….)

15-30 minutes later….

Bug: “PASCIE! PASCIE!”

Ben: “Go to sleep!”

and he did, before I got home.

**********

Earlier yesterday…

Me panicking, calling Ben: “hey babe- I need you to run and take a lunch break, Bug is freaking out and won’t nap, he is saying that his pacifier isn’t working! He is really upset and I don’t want to load him and Bear up in the car to go to Walmart-”

Ben: “Yeah, he didn’t have one last night and he was fine.”

silence…

Ben: “You there?”

Me: “Why didn’t you tell me?! I would have gone first thing this morning and got him one!”

Ben: “I figured it was time.”

Me: “<sniff>”

Letting them grow up is HARD sometimes. I’m really going to miss his face obscured by a pacifier and garbled talking when he forgets to take it out. I wasn’t too worried about his teeth- I mean with Ben and I’s genes, braces are something that he has no chance of not having so the pacifier didn’t bother me for this teeth… and it was the last remaining baby thing he did. My heart is seriously sad- I’m grieving a bit about another milestone, but happy that is is getting bigger and becoming more of a little boy than a baby.

Was there any milestone that made you happy and sad at the same child with your children? Was it hard to let them grow up for you too?