The Aftermath of The Trade

Several times throughout the day on Monday, we reminded Josiah that he would not have his pacifiers at night. We reminded him that they were in the trash can. And he cried a bit with each reminder and was sad.

As ridiculous as it sounds, it was a bit heart-breaking. And thus I felt like I had to take him on bike rides whenever he asked, which has resulted in a very sore little bottom these past few days!

Monday night he went to bed later than usual. We were much more intentional about the bedtime routine. We did give him a sippy cup of warm milk, which is a favorite thing right now. We don't intend to continue this practice for too long, but we thought we would ease out of nighttime sucking.

And he was asleep.

It was quick and painless. And surprising. But then a few hours later... he was crying. He was coherent enough to know not to ask for a paci, though his little arms did flail about him automatically searching for it under his pillow and blankets. I eventually laid down with him and eventually he fell asleep again.

Then 6am came.

He generally never wakes up that early. But without some comfort sucking to buy us a few more hours of sleep, he was up. Much too early, especially considering his late bedtime. And I was definitely as tired as he was.

So we struggled through the morning and I put him down for a nap before noon. He knew he was tired and didn't really fight nap time, even though he has not had a consistent nap for months now. And though he glanced at the top shelf where the pacis used to rest, he didn't ask. He knew.

Once again, he went to sleep fine.

Another 48 hours later, the cycle has pretty much repeated itself twice, though without the middle of the night crying. Thankfully. I am LOVING this new nap time so late in my pregnancy. I don't expect it to continue, but then I expect him to start sleeping later in the mornings. We'll see.

Yesterday, he saw a picture in a book of a baby with a pacifier and exclaimed about it. But he didn't ask for his. I mentioned that baby Daniel would have a pacifier and Josiah was very concerned that we had thrown them away and wouldn't be able to give one to Daniel. It was very sweet of him. Then, on the playground, he picked up another child's paci (well, her "dummy" because she's from the UK) and gave it back to her without hardly looking at it. Previously, he would have tried to suck on it first.

We have noticed a decreased dependence on his pacifier in the past 2 months, so that certainly made for an easier transition. But as with many things with Josiah, talking about things beforehand really makes a difference. As young as 15 months he did much better going to the church nursery if I told him what was going to happen. I didn't know how much he understood, but it certainly made a difference. He seems to need a decent amount of advanced notice for big life changes.

But then, I guess we all do.