i feel like turkey...

today will go down in history as one of those days that you are doing what you know is best for your child, but you know that it will be far from easy... and could possibly cause YOU far more hardship, inconvenience, and stress than your child will ever feel. in our 8 1/2 years as parents we have had plenty of these moments, days and seasons.. like potty training, moving to the big bed, self soothing, following the "one bite" rule at the dinner table,  correcting grocery store protocol, and the all too famous trying toddler times,  etc...etc...

after months of preparation, this evening we will fly anderson's pacifiers to the moon. this is a bridge we are unfamiliar with. none of the girls used a pacifier once they found their thumbs, but anderson only wanted the pacifier.

i am a firm believer in only making these large changes when i am not pregnant, i don't have a child under 3 months, or it coincides with other major life changes. i know clear thinking, diligence, and long suffering is required for such changes.  we considered pulling the pacifier at 2 years old, but we were in the middle of making a HUGE life change to Kansas. i thought about it in the fall, but we were moving anderson to his big boy bed. so, the next bench mark that made sense was anderson's third bday.i am NOT pregnant, i don't have any other children under 3 months old, and currently we have no planned major life changes. i didn't want to do it ON his birthday in fear he would be scarred his whole life... so i waited to do it today.

in parenthood there are times that you don't mess with good. you get to strategically pick your poison. for instance, when katie was a baby she only took short, little, hour long cat naps during the day, but slept 12 hours at night. i could have pushed for a longer nap, but could have messed up the 12 hour sleep pattern at night. so, i didn't mess with good. when julia was born i insisted that her and katie nap at the same time in the afternoon, it meant for some cranky mornings with julia, but it also meant i had two hours of silence in the afternoon. i tell people all of the time, parenthood ='s being sherlock holmes, solving the daily, monthly, yearly mysteries that kiddos throw our way.

i hope to log our "cold turkey" pacifier with drawl experience.

i am a bit anxious about this process. i don't like seeing my kids in pain, in hardship, in stress, but who does? however, experience has taught me that this, in the long run, will make life easier. i also know that if i am wishy-washy and inconsistent about this he will smell my weakness and break me.

so if you think of us send some prayers our way.... or a bottle of wine ;)

here is to flying pacifiers to the moon and surviving the decision to do so!
~s