Yesterday, Will went for his 2 year check-up. He did so well - giving the doctor a high five and laughing at all the doctor tools. He even opened his mouth big when the doctor asked him to and held still when he looked in his ears. We've come a very long way from doctor visits of the past! No immunizations any more until he is 4 but he did have to get his second flu shot. I think he was having a great time and thought we were just playing when we laid him on the table. Poor thing - the look of utter betrayal on his face as it crumpled into a scream from the shot almost had me burst into tears. :-(
His stats were pretty interesting. At 30 pounds, he is in the 75th percentile - he usually has been around 40-50% so he gained quite a bit in the last 6 months. But he was in the 91st percentile in height at 36 3/4 inches. The doctor said that this age is a pretty good indication of the child's height later in life ... so we may just have a basketball player on our hands. He definitely got some of my mom's family genes in him ...
The big issue at the appointment though - which the doctor talked to me about for really like 5-10 minutes - was his pacifier. Yes, I have a confession to make. Although I was adamant about reducing its use about a year ago - I pretty much gave up the fight for nap time and bed time. He isn't allowed to have his pacifier any other time, and has to put his pacifier up when he wakes up. And, I guess I should go ahead and also confess that my son has named his pacifier "diddy." I know, I know. Its not the best name for such an object. And, frankly, Ellis and I got so used to him calling it diddy that I didn't realize how silly (and perhaps bad) it sounded until we were at the doctor's office yesterday and a baby came in with a pacifier and Will pointed excitedly at the woman holding the baby and exclaimed DIDDY! I hope she didn't think he was saying something else!
Anyway -- so I'm really torn about the pacifier thing. I have a hard time believing some of the things the doctor was saying about extended pacifier use - makes the child selfish, more likely not to listen to mom and dad, etc. And I know some of our family and friends think its ridiculous to take it away from him already. I guess I am somewhere in the middle -- although I am kind of ready to get him to depart from it. But Will loves his diddy more than anything. Its the first thing he asks for - other than his lovey - when he is ready to go to sleep. I'm not sure how to go about really making the "break." It seems we would have quite a few really restless wakeful nights.
How did you get rid of your child's "diddy"?? Any suggestions!!??
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Alex's pacifier was his "mama". Imagine hearing your child screaming for Mama in the morning, you run to his crib, and he points to the floor to his pacifier. Anyway, Michael dumped the pacifier when Alex was 1 1/2 on Memorial Day weekend. He just threw them all away and we went cold turkey. I don't remember where I was that weekend, but it wasn't nearly as traumatic as we thought it would be. Once he realized it was gone, he just seemed to accept it. I wish you the same luck!
EG took her paci only at bedtime. we started talking to EG about giving it up and asking her to help us throw it away, thinking that if she was involved in the decision, it would be easier on her. One morning, she agreed to throw it in the trash. While she was at preschool, I threw the rest of them away. When she asked about it that night at bed, I reminded her that she'd thrown them away and we couldn't have them anymore. She fussed a few minutes and that was it. We took AM's at the same time so she wouldn't be traumatized by seeing AM's but not being able to have one.
We got Sydney to give hers up completely by accident (I can't remember--how bad is that-- how old she was but it was definitely after her 2nd birthday). As part of putting a lot of her "baby" things away she asked if babies used paci's and I told her that babies needed them but big girls didn't. She said she was a big girl and didn't need a paci and a few days later started giving them to us to "give to the baby". She gave them over one by one and was fine with it because it was her decision. My sister told her daughter that the paci broke and they had to throw it away (she actually cut off the end of it and showed her it was broken). Macie accepted it and all the "broken" pacis were thrown away. Good luck. my advice is don't rush it. Give him a way to do it on his own and he will. Who cares if it happens now or a couple of months from now.
We went cold turkey just after Durham turned 2 and it wasn't that big of a deal. He was down to only having it at naps and at night. We had a chat about big boys not needing pacis and threw them out. He brought it back up a few times that week, but sleeping with his puppies (2 stuffed dogs) had continued and I don't see that one stopping any time soon.
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