No More Pacifier

I recently found this envelope which you might remember from this post about when we convinced Haylie to give up her pacifier and mail it to a little girl who really needs one. Haylie's heart broke at the thought of the other little girl not having a pacifier and together we got an envelope and mailed off her pacifiers to this very sad little girl.

(Haylie added the names and additional decoration after we found it - she also added James' pacifiers to the mix. She didn't seem at all concerned about how we had her old pacifiers).

So after a recent visit to the dentist, who told us that James needed to give up his pacifier soon or risk some teeth issues, we decided to try the same tactic with James that week. James was very attached to his pacifier, often crying when I wouldn't let him have it outside of naptime, so I wasn't surprised when he wanted nothing to do with our little game. He wasn't too concerned about anyone else needing a pacifier and determined that "the little boy" needed to get his own. He loved his pacifier and cried at the thought of giving it away. I didn't force him into it because can be very stubborn and I knew it wouldn't work well. However, I did start telling him that in about a month, after our upcoming trip to Disneyland that he would need to be done with his pacifier. I explained to him that the dentist said it would ruin his teeth and that he should start preparing to give it up after our Disney trip. Well, amazingly enough, the day we returned from Disneyland I asked him to give me all his pacifiers and told him we could not use them anymore. He agreed and never said another word about them. He never fussed or pushed back at all. He just gave them up and never used them again after that day. He even later said that we could mail them to the little boy who needed them since he isn't going to use them anymore.

As I was looking back at the post about Haylie's pacifier give-away, I noticed another post I had written with this quote: "Don't see your child as a blank slate awaiting your pen, but as a written book awaiting your study."

It is just fascinating to learn about our children's personalities. Our children come with gifts from God, character traits that are uniquely theirs. James likes to do things in his own timing and in his own way and I am committed to respecting that and operating within his boundaries when appropriate. Those qualities are very strong and wonderful if they are nurtured properly. I am equally as proud of him for standing his ground and making up his mind about when he wanted to give away his pacifier as I am with Haylie for her bleeding heart who just wanted to make someone else happy. I adore them each in their own unique ways!!!