Still Praying!

Well, we survived our first night without the paci. It wasn't pretty but it also wasn't as bad as our first attempt to break Will of the paci. Our previous attempt was to get him to "throw away" his paci. That night was bad...really bad. Last night was only slightly better but at least Brian and I seemed more committed to not giving in to the cries and screams and attempts to walk to daycare at 2 in the morning!

Believe it or not, Will didn't even ask for his paci when he laid down to go to sleep. He just grabbed his blankey and tossed and turned. It wasn't until he started getting really sleepy that he started asking for it. When Brian reminded him that he had given it to the babies at daycare, Will started insisting that we go get it. He begged, he pleaded, he announced he wasn't a big boy after all. So I laid down with him and rubbed his back and his forehead (something we did when he was an infant to get him to become sleepy enough to fall asleep) until he finally settled down to sleep.

He managed to stay asleep until about midnight. Luckily, I heard him starting to quietly whimper and moan as he searched for his paci and I went in there and managed to sooth him back to sleep. He managed to only toss and turn and get occasional moments of sleep until 2:42. And then all you know what broke loose. I remember the time distinctly because I kept thinking that I might just have to announce to the world that I gave in to him at 2:42. He started screaming, he started crying and then he started trying to get out of bed. He first asked me where his paci was. When I reminded him that he gave it to the babies at daycare, he started screaming and insisting that I go get it. When I told him I couldn't go get it, he climbed out of bed. Apparently the kid thought he was going to walk to daycare to get it himself. And I'm guessing he would have tried if we had let him. I laid him on the bed and then had to hold him down because he kept getting up. Finally, he started calling out for his daddy who came in there to hug him. We ended up putting him in our bed between the two of us where he managed to finally calm down and fall back asleep until this morning. The funny thing was that he woke up whimpering and crying because he couldn't find his shoes. My guess is that he knew something was missing but he was too tired to figure out what.

So the good news is that we've survived the first night without giving in. I have a feeling we'll survive the next few as well. Our pediatrician once told us that her daughter mourned the loss of her paci for three nights until she finally stopped asking for it. The heartbreaking thing for both Momma and Daddy is that Will truly did mourn for that paci. His face showed pure grief and that was a heartbreaking thing for Mommy and Daddy to watch. It was like his best friend had left him.