The Perfect Pacifier Replacement

Goofy ... The Perfect Replacement!

She was very excited to head out to The Disney Store! But no one, not even Mommy, knew what kind of bond she would develop with Goofy! I am so happy this all turn out the way that it did!

I let her out of the stroller by the big mound of stuffed animals in the back of The Disney Store ... she went straight to Goofy, held him up to show me and said, "This in living room." I said, "Of course he can go home with us. We came here just to get him. Put him in the stroller and if you wanted to look around some more you can!"

She did put Goofy in the stroller, although she tried out some other things to see if she wanted them instead. I would ask her if she wanted those things and she would tell me that she wanted Goofy in our living room.

When we got home, she held him up to show him the living room. She showed him (and told him the names of our dogs) ... it was like she was showing him his new house. There was a time when she slept with Llama Llama, then she went through 8+ months where she would take Owl in the car when we went places and she would also sleep with him. BUT THIS IS SO DIFFERENT! s

She doesn't just snuggle Goofy while sleeping, she spends her day with him. She rarely puts him down! If she doesn't have him and doesn't see him. She'll say, "Where's Goofy?" She will look and look for him, but he's never far away! 

There was one day that he got dirty from playing outside and when I was going to give him a bath (Put him in the washer, she cried and cried)... we now have 2 ( a very much needed back-up Goofy) She doesn't do much without him. If we go someplace and she has to leave him in the car, sometimes she will say, "Bye bye Goofy, See you next time!" or sometimes she will put him to the side (face down) and say, "Nite nite Goofy." 

She falls asleep with him ... Sometimes she'll hold him up to show him where we are going while we are driving in the car ... He goes for walks with us (often she carries him around by his ear) ... She "teaches" him to do everything (from sliding down a slide to walking) ... It is so cute, after he slides, she'll go around to the front, bends over, claps her hands for him and says, "YEAH GOOFY!" I am so happy she has this bond, a snuggling security buddy. It's not her special lovey that I had handmade, but I think this is even better!

Getting Rid Of The Pacifier

Getting Rid of THE PACIFIER

I had been putting a lot of thought about how I was going to get rid of L's pacifier for quite sometime! When pregnant and thinking about these things, I had thought I would get rid of it around 1 year old. Plans changed when we decided to have another baby right away. When L was 1 year old, M was 2 months old, of course M would also have a pacifier and that would just not be fair! So we waited. The new plan was when M was 1... then it got pushed to when L was 2. I had a plan after her 2nd birthday that involved an Owl (she loves owls)... but there were 2 year molars coming and I think I was finding reasons to continue to put it off. Although for the last 2-3 months she would only get her pacifier during nap times and at bedtime.

March 4 2012, it started as a normal weekend day. When we woke up we decided to go out to breakfast. While we were there, the girls were being so good that we decided to drive to the Newport Aquarium. The drive up there was fun. M slept and we talked to and sang with L. We had fun at the Aquarium, as always! (So glad we decided to get a membership)

The drive back was a bit rough to say the least. M slept the majority of the way but L cried, pretty much the entire way. About half way home, we realized she was crying (well partly because she was sleepy), but also because the sun was in her eyes. I tried to get her to wear sunglasses, etc and nothing! It was pretty miserable. Once we got home, Daddy had to tun up to the store. While he was gone, the perfect idea came to me! 

Today was the  day!! I cut a pretty good size hole in L's pacifier (I knew she was about to start asking for it, because it was getting close to bedtime). When she did ask for it, it was in the basket that it is always in. I let her get it herself and she found it, BROKEN, WITH A BOO BOO! She sat there and rubbed over the hole for a couple of minutes, the conversation went like this:
L: "Mommy look, it has a boo boo".
Mommy: "Oh no, what should we do with it? That's a pretty big boo!"
L: "Mommy fix it"
     I knew she didn't know the words sew, but she has seen me fix many things.
Mommy: "Should I sew it, like I sewed M's Monkey and your doll's stroller?"
L: "Yes, Mommy do it"
     So, I sewed it and I sewed the heck out of it. I felt horrible the entire time! The whole time I was sewing it, I was talking about it.
Mommy: "I don't know how good this is going to work, but I'm doing my best to fix it for you"
     She was sitting right next to me, watching closely. I explained to her that it may not be the same as it was before. That it may not really work anymore. But that I was trying. After I finished, she took it and put it in her mouth, she made the worst expression and said, "YUCKY" She told me it was broken. I asked her what we should do with it, and her reply was, "Mommy throw it away". I told her I would throw it away in a little bit. I was thinking that I may need to keep it in case she asked for it, that I would still have it, that I would be able to show it to her to remind her that it was broken ... and yucky!

Soon Daddy came home and this is how the conversation went:
Mommy: "Oh no Daddy look! L found her pacifier with a boo boo. She asked me to fix it and I fixed it, I did the best that I could. But I told her that I didn't think it would be the same.
Daddy: With a questionable look like, (TODAY is the day???) "Oh no let me see"
L showed it to him, made the horrible face with a scrunched up nose and said, "It's yucky! Pacifier has a boo boo. It's broken. Daddy throw it away"
He took it, said he would throw it away in a little bit. She talked about it a lot. She went to sleep fairly easy that night because she was so sleepy from the day. She fell asleep about 7:30ish. She woke up at 9:15 and cried for a little over an hour while I rocked her telling her she was so brave and strong and that she would get through this. That I knew it was going to be hard. I asked her if she knew that Mommy had a pacifier when I was her age and the same thing happened to me. That one day my pacifier got a boo boo. I told her a story basically the exact thing that happened to her. I told her when I wanted my pacifier I would just snuggle my lovey. I told her that you get a pacifier when you are a baby and it only last for so long. I asked her if she remembered when I started only giving her pacifier to her for naps and bedtimes. I told her I did that, because I knew it was getting close to the time that it was going to break and get such a bad boo boo and that I was trying to make it last as long for her as it could. I told her that is why Lovey recently showed up at the house, to help her through.
     

I seriously think after this, she truly believed it was her loveys fault and she tossed it off of the bed, never to really show it any attention anymore... I asked her if she would like me to get her OWL to snuggle. She said yes. I did. Eventually she fell asleep. I left the room and cried. I felt like I had deceived her! Straight out lied to her. I know it is something that needed to be done. But I still felt horrible.

Approx 11:00 she woke up again, screaming. She asked for Llama Llama ... that didn't work. She asked for  Minnie Mouse ... that didn't work. At midnight she asked for Goofy. I told her we didn't have Goofy and that we would go get him in the morning. This round of crying lasted for 45 minutes. She slept until 6 am which is an hour and a half to two hours earlier than she normally wakes up every morning.
     

She remembered about going to get Goofy. We had breakfast, got dressed and headed out in the snow to The Disney Store.