I'm a big girl!

It has taken months and months of giving in, regressing, and wrestling with the idea of whether or not Lauren was ready to kick her nuk addiction, but it finally happened. It began last fall when her daycare teacher told me she doesn't use it. I said "but for naps she does, right?" Nope, not even for naps. That's when I should have went cold turkey, but I wanted it to be gradual, so we started a nap and bedtime only rule.

It was tough few days, kind of like living with a mini crack addict. She would throw herself on the ground and throw a tantrum, explaining how much she "needed" it. We were doing well for about a month and then when my dad died, I just gave in because it was easier for me to give her a nuk then deal with a tantrum. A few months passed and I got back on it, but again there was nap/bedtime/upstairs rule. You want your nuk? You must be ready for a nap. But then the rule would get broken for wind down time before bed, or if I wanted some quiet to make dinner or shhh, have an adult telephone convo with a bestie.

Needless to say, there were rules when we wanted to enforce them.

But enough was enough, she can speak in full sentences and I kept going back to the fact that she didn't use it at daycare. While in Richmond we were talking about saying good-bye to "nuky" and that if she gave all her nukys to the nuk fairies she would get a present. The morning we left I asked her if she wanted to leave her nuky in Richmond and be a big girl. She took it out of her mouth, put it on the table and "left" it.

I said "goodbye nuky, its been fun." She repeated me and walked to the car.

A few friends have said I was CRAZY to do that before a 10 hour car trip, but in my mind I thought I wouldn't give in because all I had to do was drive a car. I didn't have to a list of things to get done, just a screaming kid who was strapped into her seat. It was painful though, she didn't know how to relax herself at first, but by bedtime that night she didn't seem to miss it. And the next day she asked for a few times but I kept reminding her that we left the nukys in Richmond and the fairies would be sending her a present.

She wanted a purple princess bathing suit. Ok. Where was the master fairy gonna find that? While at grandma and grandpa Crawford's last week a package arrived from Nukland, USA for Miss Lauren Crawford. There was a letter congratulating her on becoming a big girl and apologizing for not being able to find purple princess bathing suit.

Lauren didn't seem to mind the purple princess dress!

"Look at me mom, I'm a princess"

It has now been two weeks and she does ask for it every few days, but I remind her that she is a big girl that's why she got a princess dress and all is forgotten. It was a proud mama moment to have moved on from nuky but that moment when she said goodbye I felt a little lump in my throat because this was really the last baby thing besides potty training. And as much as it keeps getting better and better, its happening way too fast.

XOXO

Aubrey