The "old" Harrison at bedtime.
The "new" Harrison at bedtime! Love seeing his smile.
Harrison has loved his pacifier for over a year. Over the course of the year it has had a few different names. It started out as "mama", but when I pretended I didn't know what he was referring to, he emphasized "blalala" and so it was named for quite awhile. Later he shortened it to "lallup".
For several months, I have emphasized that he is getting to be a big boy and one day his pacifier will probably break and we will have to say our goodbyes. I decided that Sunday night was the night. I clipped the end of his favorite "lallup" and handed it to him. Right away he said, "uh-oh mom, this isn't working very well." We talked about it being broken, but he could still use it if he wanted to. (I wanted him to make the decision to give it up). He tried it a few more times and said, "this is broken, give it to Lily." (What a thoughtful little brother!) And that was it. He went right to sleep without it, and has not cried once to have it back. He even has a few others that I have hidden in a drawer, and he never even asked for another one. Once he asked to go to the store for another one, but I told him no, so he must not even remember that he has the others.
The only problem that we've encountered this week is now he doesn't want to nap. At first, he screamed and screamed during naptime, not because he wanted his pacifier, but he said since it was broken, he was awake and wanted to play with his cars. For four days straight he cried in his bed for an hour before I would go in and get him up. Finally today, he slept for about 45 minutes--a step in the right direction. I think I miss his pacifier more than he does this week because it was such a convenient way to "pacify" him and it definitely helped him fall asleep. But, he is growing up and we had to make the break. I am so thankful that this was so easy. Thank you, Harrison, for sleeping so well at night. But please do not give up on naps yet!
Lallup, thank you for your service this year. You made naptime a breeze, and you gave us additional sleep in the morning when he woke up, found you, and was content to stay in bed a little longer. But mostly we thank you for your help on out of town trips. We will never forget those long car rides where only you could stop the intense screaming. We will miss you, lallup, but we are on to better things!
