The "pass"

Getting rid of the pacifier is something we had to go through for 2 out of 3 of our children.  AJ took one and we called it a "nuk", Ty never liked pacifiers and I pretty much made Mark like them; whenever we were on the go (which was often) I'd put it in his mouth to keep him quiet- it worked.  He started calling it a "pass" when he could talk- so that stuck.  We had a pacifier everywhere we went and if we didn't have one, we paniced.  I remember one time I lost one in a parking lot; Mark was so fussy I ended up letting him suck on my finger (after I washed my hands). I went back and looked everywhere for it.  I never found it, but we survived.

The pass has been limited to nap and bed time for a while now (probably 6 months).  When Mark wakes up he knows that we put it on the shelf and it stays there until bedtime.  About a month ago, I thought it was about time to give it up.  I tried the same method we used with Aiden; cut the pacifier gradually.  We did this for a few days; Mark called it "boken" (broken) and then when I thought he was ready, he threw the pacifier in the trash after much encouragement from me.  He actually did great the first couple nights; on night 3 he was up a few times, night 4 it was 4 or 5 times and night 5 he was up every hour and around 4 am, I dug out a pacifier from the cabinet (we had many) and shoved it in his mouth!  And everyone slept again.  Jeff and I agreed, it wasn't the right time, we'll try again in a few months.  The older boys knew what was going on and we have been talking a lot about Mark being a "big boy" and not a baby anymore.  The boys were out of school on last Monday (Labor Day) and Mark went down for his usual morning nap with his pass, he woke up and I forgot to have him put it on the shelf.  He was sitting with me cuddling (pacifier still in his mouth) and Ty looks at him and says, "Mark, you're a big boy, you should put your pass in the trash".  Mark wiggled his way out of my lap, walked to the trash can and threw it in.  And that was the last we saw of the pass!  He's been sleeping fine without it for a week now.  Who knew?  I just had to have a big brother encourage him.  Now on to potty training. :-)