The Paci Fairy

On Friday, the "Paci Fairy" paid a visit to Iyla Grace. 

For awhile now we'd been talking about how the Paci Fairy would be coming to take the tops off of her pacifiers to give to new babies who needed them, in return bringing her a couple of new Big Girl lovie toys. I had decided to go the route of just cutting the nipples off her Wannanub pacis vs. taking the entire pacifier away, hoping that might make the whole event a little less traumatic.

The main reason I proactively chose to do this was because I could see Iyla's teeth starting to shift from pacifier use. She only used the pacifiers during nap, bed, & occasionally in the car, but despite this her teeth were starting to get the suspect curved "paci" look. We also are only one month away from Iyla turning 3 (!!!), so I figured it was time. 

Here's a shot of Iyla the morning she was to become an official BIG GIRL:

Out to breakfast with my buddy

When we returned home from our morning outings, I let her watch a short video while the Paci Fairy went to work upstairs:

After the video ended I let her know that the Paci Fairy had arrived and it was time to go upstairs. I was SO nervous about how it would all go down, as this is a kid who loves her pacis- habitually soothing herself by sucking on one while rubbing her nose with the other. 

When we got upstairs her initial reaction was one of excitement and wonder at the seemingly magical event that had just occurred. Was this going to be easier than I had anticipated? Had I just dodged a bullet?

Not so fast, Mama.

After settling down from the initial excitement Iyla climbed into bed with her new gifts and maimed pacis. She played and chatted with her new bunny (the horse got kicked to the side) before fatigue got the best of her and the hard part began. 

There was grief. Genuine, heart-wrenching grief. She kept crying that she wanted her paci tops back and asking that I come snuggle her (which I absolutely did). There were big tears interspersed with exasperated sighs & yawns. She eventually found comfort by pulling a little pillow over her face and finally (oh so thankfully) fell asleep. About 30 minutes later there was another tearful wake up before she passed out again.

Sweet girl finally asleep, clutching both pacis

When she awoke the 2nd time I was SO grateful to find her in good spirits. 

BC and I decided to treat our Big Girl to a night out on the town at her (and our!) favorite local happy hour spot: The Driskill Hotel. 

Here's proof of this kid's resiliency:

The official BIG GIRL!

At bedtime she again wanted me to stay in her room and comfort her. It was sweet watching her "nest" in her bed and fall asleep clutching her big stuffed bear with her new bunny lovie close by. 

BC had night duty and reported that he went in 2 times throughout the night to soothe her, eventually taking her into our guest room to snuggle when she couldn't get back to sleep.

Yesterday was day #2 without her pacis, and I am happy to report that this little lady didn't cry ONCE at nap or bed time! In fact, at bed time- when she usually runs into her room to grab both pacis- she made a start toward her bed, stopped (very evidently thinking through the fact that those pacis weren't quite the same) and happily sat in my lap to read books without them.

I am so proud of Iyla Gracie- as this was definitely one of the HARDEST transitions we've had to do. There is a part of me that wants to keep her a baby forever- and giving up this last link to her babyhood proved to be hard on both of us.

That being said, no matter what, she WILL always be my baby girl… just now without her paci teeth. ; )