Day 1

Or night 1.

I picked my daughter up from daycare and as soon as she got in the car, she wanted a pacifier. I told her we didn't have any. She did pretty well. On the way home, she started to get a little upset about not having one, so I started to sing the ABCs to distract her (I have a horrible voice, so it is very distracting). She told me, "No ABCs, Mama, no ABCs!" I guess she doesn't like my singing. Therefore, we counted to 10, and I counted to 20. She's got 10 down, so I guess the next set is to count to 20.

She did pretty well throughout the evening. Then, it was bedtime. 8:53. I normally put her down at 9:00 or so. She did get a small (about half) dose of allergy medicine at 8:30. She turned on her music and told me that she wanted her "yellow buddy." No. We don't have any pacifiers. Sorry. I put her in bed and covered her up. She didn't cry. Hmmmm.....she asked for ice water. I went and got her some water. When I left that time, she realized she wasn't getting the beloved pacifier, so then she started crying. I went into the living room to read my book. After 10 minutes, I went in and told her to lie down and that she was fine and didn't need a pacifier. She did lie down. I left, crying commenced; I waited 15 minutes this time because the crying got muffled toward the 10 minute mark, so I knew she was lying down. She told me her nose was running and that she needed a Kleenex. I got her one. I left, crying commenced; I went in after 10 minutes because she had coughed/gagged a couple of times before going completely quiet, and I wanted to make sure that she wasn't choking or anything. She was fine. I left; crying commenced. I waited 15 minutes. I knew she was getting close to going to sleep because her crying wasn't as strong. She was more interested in going to sleep than crying. At 9:50, she stopped crying completely. Having the choking fear again, I went to the door. No noise except for her breathing. Then the phone rang. As she started crying again, I made a mental note to find out who called my parents' house at 10 'til 10, hunt them down, and personally strangle them. Five minutes later, all was quiet again. I tiptoed into her room, stubbed my toe, restrained from muttering a string of expletives (at least until I got out of the room), and peeked in on her. Sound asleep. No pacifier in sight.

So, the next test was the overnight test. She usually wakes up at least once and starts crying when she can't find the damn thing. Fast forward to 2:30 AM. She wakes up. Or I wake up, I assume she hadn't been awake but for a couple of seconds. She is asking for the pacifier. I decide to wait a couple of minutes and see what happens. After about 15 seconds, all is quiet again. I snuck in to check on her, and found her asleep again.

She didn't wake up again.

This morning, so energized by my semi-success last night, I decide to tell her daycare teachers to try and see how she does without it. Give it to her if she asks for it or if she throws a big fit, but see if she'll go without. As I walk into the daycare center, the director catches me. She tells me that she had talked to Nicole (my daughter's teacher). Nicole was surprised to learn that my daughter had a pacifier. That's right: SHE HASN'T USED A PACIFIER SINCE SHE MOVED INTO HER NEW CLASS. Had I known this a month ago when she started in that class, I would have gotten rid of the pacifier then. So, we have now been without a pacifier for approximately 32 hours. We'll see how tonight goes. Keep your fingers crossed for me.