Thoughts of Clover: Goodbye to 2010 and pacifiers and hello big girl bed and 2011!

2010 and pacifiers:

I had previously planned that 2 years old was the magic age to get rid of the pacifier, or “baba” as Clover calls them. A few days after her birthday, Clover and I had a talk about how she was a big girl and didn’t need her pacifier anymore and that only babies use pacifiers. I told her that we were going to put all of her baba’s into a box and the “passy fairy” (she had just had a fairy themed birthday party) was going to take them and save them for her baby brother. The next day she helped me decorate a box, collect all of her pacifiers and put them in the box. Before we sealed it, she picked out one special pacifier. We then sealed the box and set it on the mantle and headed to the mall with her “special baba.” We went to the build-a-bear factory (yes, waste of money, but also a cute and creative concept – plus, they have good coupons!) where her “Baba Bear” was born. We put a recording thing (not sure the technical name) in the bear’s hand so that when you squeeze it you hear me say “I’m a big girl now, no baba’s!” and then Clover says “no baba’s!” Before sealing her new bear, she placed her special pacifier inside of it.

Yes, I agree, that sounds like a big ordeal just to get rid of pacifiers, but here is my reasoning behind it.
1. She loved her baba’s and it was to the point where she would pretend to get hurt just so she could ask for her baba. She wanted one all the time, and everywhere (which I wouldn’t allow) and therefore threw massive amounts of tantrums because of the stupid pacifier.
2. Taking into account her deep love for her baba, I wanted to do something special, that she could be a part of, to remember her pacifier and ease the transition. So, we had her make her Baba Bear. That way she knew that baba was in there and could be with her at bedtime, AND she could squeeze the hand to remind her of why she didn’t need baba’s anymore. Plus, it gave her something to show off and be proud of.
3. I like to thoroughly explain things to Clover because even if she doesn’t understand all of what I’m saying, she at least gets part of it. For instance, I don’t just tell her “No! Do not play on the fireplace!” I calmly (at first) tell her “Clover, you cannot play on the fireplace because it is dangerous. You can fall and get hurt and that would not be good.” Etc. So, I felt like if we reiterated a few key points about why she couldn’t have a pacifier anymore, than she would better understand it and have an easier time with the change.

Key Points (just in case you’re taking notes or are confused):
1. She is a big girl and doesn’t need pacifiers anymore.
2. Only babies use pacifiers (and since she is going to have a baby brother around March or April we decided it would be silly to pretend like the pacifiers were broken or just magically disappeared considering she would see other babies with them)
3. She can always have her “special baba” with her when she needs it because she put it inside of her Baba Bear.

All-in-all, the whole process worked out wonderfully. She fell asleep for naptime on the way home from the mall with her baba inside her new Baba Bear.

She only asked for her baba once that night, and then squeezed the hand of Baba Bear to remind her that she was a big girl and didn’t need a baba anymore. The next night, I did catch her trying to undress the bear to get the baba out, but once I explained to her that it was stuck in there and we couldn’t get it out, she was okay.

She loves her Baba Bear. She squeezes his hand every night and repeats “I’m a big girl now, no baba’s! No baba’s!” and loves to show her bear off. If she sees another child with a pacifier she says “I no have baba’s. I’m a big girl. The passy fairy saved them for baby Miles.” She has never once tried to take baby Hudson’s (my bff’s baby) pacifier (she did once, when she still had hers) and loves to make sure he has it if he needs it.

It was a great transition, and I honestly feel like it was the way that we did the whole process.

2011 plus the big girl bed:

If you’ve been reading my blog since the beginning (which I’m pretty sure only my Granny has), then you will know about our initial “sleeping issues” we had when Clover was a baby. Until she was about 9 months old, Dustin and I (mainly Dustin because he can sleep anywhere and in any position) took turns holding her while we slept. I refused to sleep in the bed with her because I was petrified of SIDS. Finally, at around 9 or 10 months, I let her sleep in the bed with me. And low and behold, we all slept! It was magical. From that point on, Clover became my #1 cuddle buddy. I loved co-sleeping. The one time she’s thrown up, it was in the middle of the night, and because we co-slept, I was able to hear her start to throw up and sit her up immediately. Another time, I felt her trembling in her sleep, so I felt her head only to discover that she was burning up. Turns out that she had a 103 fever. I wonder how long that fever would have gone untreated had she been in her own bed in another room… I also feel like co-sleeping gave us a chance to “cuddle” at night and gave her the attention and affection that she needed to be carefree and confident during the day.

Well, with baby #2 due in 13 short weeks, not to mention that Clover really enjoys sleeping sideways in bed AND she has recently added 4 bears and 2 small puppies in addition to her blankie and froggy – I decided it was time to move her to her own bed.

In true Jill fashion, I explained what was going to happen. We went shopping and picked out her own “big girl bed” bedding and Juju gave it to her for Christmas. She helped us put the bedding on her bed, move the bedrail from my bed to hers and she moved all of her animals and night time pals into her new bed. She also picked out a tinkerbell nightlight for her big girl room! Her first night in the bed, I explained to her that I was going to lay with her until she fell asleep and then I would move into my bed. I showed her where the monitor was and told her that if she needed me in the middle of the night, I could hear her in the monitor. I said that when she woke up in the morning she could say “Mommy, I’m awake” and I would come in and get her.

She whimpered a little when I told her I was going to go into my bed, but after reiterating the key points (I don’t need to spell those out this time), she was okay with it and easily fell asleep. She woke up once around 2 am crying, and I came in and she fell back to sleep. At 630 am the next morning I heard a little voice over the monitor say “Momma, I’m awake! Momma, I’m awake!” It was the cutest thing in the world.

It has now been over a week and Clover naps and sleeps all night long in her big girl bed. She loves to show off her bed, room and nightlight to anyone who comes over. She also loves to tell everyone about her bed and that when she wakes up she says “Momma, I’m awake.”

Her new big girl bed: