Ditching the Passy

I was asked by a sweet blog follower if I would share how we got Paxtin to give up her passy. I wish I had all the magic answers, but I can only share what worked for us. While it wasn't easy, AT ALL, I felt that the transition went much better than I expected.

I actually tried to cut her passy LAST year around this same time...maybe a little later like July, but she was still young. Maybe right at almost two. I had this number set in my head, thinking I HAD to get rid of her passy by that age. i actually stressed about it entirely More than was necessary. I also chose a terrible time to make the change. We were re-modeling our new house and had moved in with my parents for the summer. So, there was that inconsistency in our lives paired with my determination to MAKE her give up the passy...it was a recipie for disaster. I should have known better. Long story short, I cut the ends off all her passies one day...I DID talk about it with her, telling her it was a "new" passy for big girls. Oh boy, that did not go over well. She actually lost so much sleep because she just couldn't soothe herself without the passy.

So, we caved and gave it back to her. I caught a lot of flack from people like Paxtin's teacher who told me to wait it out and DO NOT give it back. Yeah, well she wasn't at our house all those LATE nights when she would cry and cry for hours. She was so happy to see her passy, it made me feel so happy for her. She was clearly too young to take it away. It had become a source of comfort and signaled her body and brain to rest.

Fast forward a whole year to just about a month ago. We were getting ready for bed one night and we asked Pax to go get her passies (yes, two...we were up to one in the mouth and one in her hand!) We searched and searched...looking everywhere we could think of. The passy was GONE. It was like 9:00 by this point and I told my husband, let's just cut it. he was hesitant, but I really wanted to get it over with. We simply told her we could not find her passy anywhere, so maybe the passy fairy had come. Totally thinking off the top of my head, I told her a story about how the passy fairy comes and collects passies from little girls who are too big for them. She takes the passies to the new little babies who need them. It was time to be a big girl. And to my amazement, she bought it!!! I knew for sure she'd think I was a loony.

That was when I knew it might just work this time. While there were a few set backs, such as her crying and being a little less willing to go to bed with the thought of no passy being there, it wasn't enough to make me go back to the passy. I was going to stick to it. her teachers even commented that she started napping at school again...without the passies she just went right to sleep. She had started playing with them apparently.

I can only suggests that you definitely make sure that there is NO other change occurring in their life. This will be such a change for them that they don't need anything extra going on. Also, make sure that they are ready. This might be hard to tell, but I kind of just bit the bullet and went for it. That's the scariest part. Diving in. I was told to make a huge deal out of the deal. Let them tell their passies goodbye, throw them away themselves, and praise, praise, praise. Or if you want to use the passy fairy, be my guest!!

I hope this helps maybe just a little bit. i am surely no expert, but it is what worked for us.

OH! and guess what showed up about 3 weeks ago?? PASSY!!! We found it under her bath towel that she never uses and Pax grabbed for it. I snatched it up and said OH NO! We will have to mail it to the fairy. She quickly forgot about it-it could have gone very bad. So, when you are ready to cut it, throw away all extras so you aren't tempted to go back.

Good Luck!!

Bed on the Floor

So...my kid sleeps on the floor. :/ Let me give you the story.

About a month ago or so, we took away her passy. She actually did REALLY well, at first. Then she kind of missed it and had a hard time being alone in her room alone. Or so I thought-turns out she was getting very scared and possibly having night terrors?? I was unfamiliar with this until a few mommy friends on Facebook informed me that their kids went through this at about age 3, too. And then it kind of made sense. We could not figure out why she was screaming bloody murder, but it was clearly not an 'I want attention' scream...

We tried EVERYTHING. We patted her bottom...and that would sometimes take hours. Wasn't going to do that. Night time is the only alone time I get with my husband, other than weekends and I can't give that up. We then thought we would try sleeping in her floor...taking turns until she fell asleep. Again, NOT. A. GOOD. IDEA. I kind of thought it wouldn't work, but someone suggested it and I was at my wits end. She was to the point of falling asleep at midnight or later...waking up three hours later screaming. We finally just put her in our bed a few nights.

It finally came down to letting her choose what she wanted to do...within reason. She chose her floor. I tried to put up a fight, but she seemed content to sleep there and she actually SLEPT there, so I was over it. I made her a pallet in the floor, got her whatever babies she needed to feel comfortable and we left her door open. She cried it out the first few nights, but she never came out of her room. And then she just got over it!

Who knows how long she plans to sleep in the floor. I guess maybe from sleeping in the floor (on a mat) at school, she's used to it?? In that case, she will be sleeping there until Kindergarten!! Her school does nap time all the way through Pre-K. (Thank goodness...she HAS to have her naps) And it is state law to have an hour nap time in all care centers in Arkansas. It could be awhile before she wants to get back in her bed!! OH WELL!!

=)

Practice makes Perfect!!

Paxtin has been asked to be a flower girl for our cousin Brigit's wedding. We have about 2 weeks until the wedding, so I figured it was time to start practicing. We talked about how she would wear her pretty 'princess' dress that Brigit bought her and that she would carry a pretty basket full of flowers. To practice, I just gave her her Easter basket filled with lots of pieces of tissue. HA!

I taught her to walk and toss, walk and toss. She is so cute inching down our front hallways saying, "walk and toss, walk and toss!" I hope she doesn't recite this in the middle of the wedding. ; )

I will blog about the wedding in a few weeks and let you know how she did. Her dress is PRECIOUS and I can't wait to see her in it with her hair all fixed and we may even do a TINY bit of make-up. She will probably pass out because I am letting her 'do makeup.' I'm not kidding when I say she asks me to 'do her makeup' every. single. day. She's going to be my diva when she hits the teenage years. yikes.

Here she trying on the dress. The pictures don't do it justice, it's so pretty in person. Plus, I took these pictures with my cell phone, so they are terrible quality. My next mission is to invest in a phone that takes USEABLE photos. :/




And this is her practicing. Lots of concentration happening there!




Walk & Toss! Walk & Toss!



say a little prayer for us...we might need it!!

Happy 80th & 35 Months

Wow-I have yet again become a terrible blogger!! SORRY!!

After our busy Easter post, I just lost interest in taking tons of photos. Plus, we really didn't have TOO much going on.

That, of course, didn't last long...so, we are back!! AND, I win terrible mother of the year award for forgetting Paxtin's 35 month picture and post. :( I think when we reach age 3, we will just hang up the monthly photos. She HATES to do it and I can just document her progress with simple, candid photos. ; )

Anyways...Sunday we all loaded up and traveled to south Arkansas for my great-aunt Alice's 80th birthday. I don't see Aunt Alice NEAR enough--I never really did as a kid and now that we are grown with our own families, we rarely get to see her at all. So, it was exciting to get to see her, share Pax with her (whom she had only met once) and help her celebrate her big day!! To say Alice looks young and sprite for 80, is an understatement...she's absolutely AMAZING for her age. Both mentally and physically, she's such an inspiration...I truly hope I got some of her genes!! ; )

This is Alice-80 years young!!



Paxi and her buddy Uncle Jordan



Group shot of my family including my brother and parents with Alice and her granddaughters



Rebecca, myself, & Melissa-Alice's granddaughters



My family of three!!!



My mom and I with Alice



My mom, Pax, and Alice






Look at all those candles!! ; )


Jordan and I with our second cousins.


We had so much fun visiting with family we hadn't seen in years. Pax had a blast being the center of attention. ; )

Speaking of my lambie, I want to get in her 35 month progress while I am sitting her blogging. I am ashamed I let it slip my mind this month!!

Pax at 35 months:

MAJOR accomplishment...again! NO MORE PASSY. I sat here and thought, 'no, that's not a new development...' BUT it IS! It seems that she hasn't had it for so long, but I guess it's only been about a month now. Aside from some self-soothing she's had to master again, she's done AWESOME with out her passy. I know she missed it at first...she never really cried FOR it, but she did have trouble sleeping at first. That's all worn off and she's back to her normal sleeping routine. I can only hope and pray that our future children transition this easy. Heck, I may never INTRODUCE the passy to the next ones! ; )

Speaking of sleep...We have had an interesting set back and we are still trying to figure it out...
Paxtin refuses to sleep in her bed. AT. ALL. She has been napping and sleeping at night on her floor for about a month now. We initially thought it was because she didn't have her passy anymore, but now that she's over crying about that, she goes right to sleep-with out so much as a whimper, ON THE FLOOR. I have a hunch that all the recent storming in our area had something to do with it. There were two nights last month I had to get her OUT of bed to go to our safe place for a tornado warning. She's also started the "I'm scared" stuff. She can't tell me exactly what scares her in her room, but I can tell she's not crying over nothing. We have taken turns helping her get settled for bed, but after that took SEVERAL hours a few nights, we now just let her sleep with her door open. I CAN NOT handle kids in my bed. We've stopped fighting her about it and just allow her to sleep in her floor. If it makes her feel safe...and she's able to rest, then we just go with it. She won't sleep there forever!

I think we are going to plan our first appointment to the dentist in a few weeks. I'm a little nervous for that adventure, but it must be done. :/ We will also be going to get her yearly check-up next month, so I will have updated height and weight. =)

We love you Lambie and CAN NOT believe you are almost THREE. That's two short years left until you will be a Kindergartner. WOW. I am cherishing this time of your life as much as I can..before you get any bigger!! LOVE YOU. xoxox