Since I decided to take away Carson's bottles back in the spring, I've been trying to figure out how I wanted to approach taking away his soother next. We've always kept Carson's soother in his crib and have only used it for sleeping. He always had to say goodbye to it before we had breakfast or left his room.
Just like with his bottles, I've been noticing how big he's getting, not only physically, but mentally. He's been saying things like:"More yogourt NOW!" and bigger words like "Ridiculous". Then when I see him with a soother in his mouth, it just doesn't seem right. Does he really need it?
We met our friends baby this weekend and Carson came too. He really liked the baby and was so cute with her. At one point, while I was holding the sweet baby, he tried to take my arms away from her. I guess it was his way of saying:"Hey! You were my Mommy first!". It was cute and scared me at the same time. I was more nervous around a newborn than I expected. With Carson around patting her head and trying to give her popcorn, I was going a little crazy! Oh, toddler stage... one can never really predict how their little brains are going to react. At the end of the day, we have a pretty good boy. We're very grateful for Carson. I just forget how loud and rough he is. These things are very typical, but in a child birth centre when your 2 year old is running around saying:"Hello Baby!! Hello there!" It's hilarious, cute and embarrassing all at the same time. The nurses didn't seem to care, they all said he was handsome. We still told him to whisper because babies were trying to sleep and grow. So then he preceded to whisper the word whisper. Too funny!
So, back to how I got rid of the soother............ when we came home the night that we met the new baby, we explained to Carson that babies need soothers and that he's a big boy now and doesn't need it. We told him that big boys who say big words, peddle their bikes (he just started this weekend!) and buckle themselves up in their booster seats, don't need soothers anymore. We told him that Baby A had the soother now because she needs it still. When we explained this to him he just thought about it for a minute. Then he said:"Okay! Baby A have it.".
As we read him books that night and carried on with a normal bedtime routine, he would randomly say:"Baby A have it. Me big kid now." SO CUTE! I just looked at him so surprised at how well he understood what we told him. He was ready to give up his soother. He was happy to share it with the baby. I just felt so beside myself in that moment. Realizing how much my own baby has grown up.
I didn't have to cut the ends off the soothers, I didn't have to put anything yucky on them to make them taste bad, I didn't have to use the soother fairy, I didn't have to make him cry or be upset about not having a soother.. I just had to tell him he was a big boy and that he didn't need it anymore. I had been scared of this for a couple months now. I thought it would be much harder.
My boy is not a baby at all anymore. No more bottles, no more soothers, no more rocking to sleep, no more feedings in the middle of the night... he's an independent boy. He barley kisses or hugs me anymore, but I'm ok with that. I've always given him the confidence he needs to grow and learn on his own. I want him to think for himself. No more yucky soothers!! No more dropping $10 a package!
Doing a happy dance right now!!!!
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