He’s hooked to the thing. And, for my part, I haven’t done a very good job (at least lately) of attempting to restrict its use in any way. For a while, it was going great. He’d wake up in the morning and we’d put his atty away (“Bye-bye, atty!” he’d crow, “See you tonight!”), and he wouldn’t use it again until his nap at daycare, and then not again until bedtime. I was okay with that.
Recently, though, he’s become a bit of a ninja with his atties. He’s started hiding them around the house, and I’ll be damned if I can figure out where he’s stashing them. Last night, on four separate occasions, he was walking around the living room with a completely different pacifier in his mouth. Another one would appear just as the previous one he was using disappeared. He must have a secret hiding place for them somewhere, but I can’t find it.
I haven’t been taking them away from him in the evenings, either, although I know I should. I think the reasons for this are twofold: 1. I don’t want to deal with the screaming that would result; and 2. He’s my baby. I just want to let him be a baby a little longer. I know all too well from his older brother’s example how quickly the vestiges of babyhood fall away, and I’m just not ready for Will to stop being a baby yet.
When he turns two (IN A MONTH -- CURSE YOU, TIME, AND YOUR SWIFT PASSAGE TOO), I know we’ll reevaluate. We’ll start regulating his atty usage more strictly, and we’ll start taking the steps necessary to take it away from him completely. But for right now? I’m just not in any hurry to take it away.
You keep your atty, baby. And while you’re at it, just stop growing up so fast.
2 comment(s):
Ace was the same way with his binky! He'd suddenly appear with a binky that had been missing for days. And of course he couldn't tell us where it was.
When we started trying to wean him from binkies, he would stash them around the house and pop them in. We could never find his hiding spots!
It was actually the dentist that got Ace to give up his binky. It was the day after Baby C was born. The dentist told him the binky was messing up his teeth and he didn't need it. And just like that, he gave it up. I was a bit worried about him doing that so soon after the baby was born, but only the first night was rough. I was in the hospital still, so my husband got to deal with that. Haha
I have no idea why kids are/aren't supposed to use pacifiers, other than the judgement people pass when a kid gets to a certain age. I think it's kind of like diapers, if a child gets to a certain point and is still using diapers and a pacifier, strangers feel they can judge the hell out of the mother.
But I'm a cynic, usually. People suck. Let him have it! :)
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