"Mommy This One is Broken..."

Right after Taylor turned 1 years old he started calling his pacifier "Ta" because he couldn't say the "P" sound for paci but for obvious reasons he could say the "T" sound. Well this week has been our last week with our old friend-"Ta". We've used Ta since day one when we came home from the hospital. Taylor has loved that pacifier like any other lovey. We've only had 3 of them over the last year and a half because they stopped making the brand that Taylor got hooked on. I loved them because they didn't have the handle on the front and they seemed smaller. When Taylor was 13 months old we decided to take paci away at night time to ensure that he could put himself to sleep. Well that was a miserable week, but it only lasted a week and we all survived unharmed! Looking back that was one of the best decisions that we made as first time parents. On the other hand, a not so good decision was also made at that same time... he still had it at naptime. As parents we learn to pick our battles and bedtime is the one we chose to fight first. Now more than 14 months later and some new teeth and many little sicknesses along the way, we are finally getting to taking Ta away for good. With encouragement from our doctor (since Taylor has procrastinating parents) we snipped the end off of Ta. Later when Ta was presented to Taylor at naptime he said, "Daddy, Ta is broken???" and did not want to suck it anymore. Now comes the hard part.

Let me start by saying that it has been a rocky road this past week and the doctor said to expect 2 hard weeks-argh!!! Sad for everyone in the house because we have to listen to Taylor cry. It's not a regular cry, it's an all out battle cry that grips at your heart and squeezes real hard! Here's a sleep recount of our "sleepless" week (let me remind you that for the last year Taylor has been taking 3 hour afternoon naps-YES we were very spoiled!)

Day #1-cried for 25 minutes fell asleep for 1 hour

Day#2-cried for 25 minutes daddy couldn't handle it got him up and played for 30 minutes then tried again slept for 1 hour and 15 minutes-woke up screaming!

Day#3-same as day #2 minus the 30 minute playing time with an extra dose of procrastination on Taylor's part!

Day #4-Taylor was not having any of it (screaming & crying) because he was unfortunately over tired which we all know makes things worse.

Day#5-Heather's house with an air conditioner broken upstairs both kids had to sleep downstairs in new rooms and for Taylor a new bed too...didn't go over too well! Cried hard got backrubs from Heather only slept about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Day #6-Same situation as Day #5 didn't go any easier only slept about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Day #7-At home with mommy, cried for 20 minutes and finally slept for 3 1/2 hours!!!!! But he did wake-up half way through and cried/whined for a short 10 minutes and then put himself back to sleep! Hopefully we're on the road back to sleepy afternoons!

Day #8-At home with mommy, cried for 10 minutes and then we were home free for 3 1/2 hours of sleepful bliss!!!!!!!!! AWESOME:-)

Here's a photo gallery of our favorite "Ta's" over the past 2 years