Sleepy Kisses

The only thing worth stealing is a kiss from a sleeping child.
Joe Houldsworth

My husband is out of town, so as usual, my daughter and I are staying with my parents. Last night, he called and we talked for a little while. Then he wanted to talk to "his little Putt-putt (his nickname for her)."

I have no idea what the conversation was on his end, but on her end, there was a lot of smiling, and she tilted her head to the side. In the process, the side of her face hit the button to hang up the phone, so we had to call him back. When she was back on the phone, she tried to hang up on him because she's 18 months old, and that's what they do. It was funny the first time, so I'll try again.

Anyway, as per her custom, when she is getting off the phone, she pushes the phone away from her head so that I am holding it in front of her. Then she says, "Bye-bye" and waves. If prompted, she will also say, "Night-night." Last night, out of the blue, she tried to kiss the phone! It was so adorable. (I know. I'm her mother. A lot of things she does are adorable.)

I can't believe that it's only Tuesday. I've been very busy at work the past couple of days (yesterday and today), so this week is not going very fast. Hopefully, it will get better once we get over the hump day tomorrow.

I have decided that the pacifier has to go. When she was born, she wasn't going to have a bottle or pacifier past a year. Hey, I got it half right. :) The bottle was gone at about 10 months or so. With the pacifier, well, we haven't had as much luck. She seems pretty determined to hang onto it.

Well, let me clarify. I can't stand to drive home everyday with a child who literally screams in the back seat. LITERALLY. It's not fun. We have weaned the pacifier time down to naptime, bedtime, and car rides.

At naptime, her daycare teachers tell me that she doesn't even put it in her mouth. She just holds it in her hand. They're going to love me when I tell them not to give it to her anymore. :)

At bedtime, she does pretty much the same thing. She'll take it when I give it to her, but within a few minutes, she is just holding it.

The car rides are going to be the worst. But, I've already been working on those. A bag of goldfish should get her to and from daycare. Should I worry about replacing one comfort item with food? Maybe I shouldn't make food a comfort item. I'll have to think about that one.

I have decided that next time my husband is out of town for 4 days, all of the pacifiers are going to mysteriously disappear never to be seen again. I have been assured that it normally (and my child is hardly normal -- a fact of which I am very proud) takes about 3 days with day 2 being the hardest. That's going to be a long 3 days. Or 4 days. Or longer. Eeeek!

If you have any hints, good ideas, our would like to leave moral support, the comment section is open. If you have horror stories, well....leave those, too. Best to be prepared, right?