For many of you that know me, you know what an "Uh Oh" is. But for those of you that might not know, let me explain. It all started almost 6 years ago when Grace was born. We gave her a pacifier and as time let on, everywhere she went, her pacifier went, too. They were inseperable. However, there were few occasions where Grace would drop her pacifier, and in turn we would say, "Uh oh," and pick it up. We did this with cups and toys and anything else that was thrown, but for some reason, Grace correlated the word Uh Oh with her pacifier, and that was what she called it. When Nate was born, we were in such a habit of calling it an Uh Oh, it felt strange to just say pacifier, so we called it that for him, too.
For Grace, we tried to get rid of her pacifier one day by just taking it away, and it was REALLY hard. We ended up giving it back to her and said we'd try again sometime soon. One day, we were out, and I don't know if we just didn't have any more pacifiers with us, or if we just didn't have any more at all (they got lost and broken), but Grace had been biting holes in them around that time. Once she bit a hole in it, she was unable to suck on them and no longer wanted that particular pacifier. Well, we were out, and she bit a hole in the only one we had there, and wanted another one. We ended up telling her that she broke it and we didn't have any and there wasn't anything we could do. It ended up being a while and she was doing well, so instead of getting her another one, we decided to try to get rid of it that day. We succeeded. From that day on, she never put another pacifier in her mouth. Well, with the exception of one day after that when she found one somewhere, and proceeded to find me and just look at me in the eyes while she sucked away- kind of with that look of, "Look at what I have in my mouth, Mom." I snatched that pacifier out of her mouth so fast!! Anyway, that was about 2 months after her 2nd birthday.
So fast forward to now, when Nate 2 years and 5 months old. I hadn't tried to get rid of his pacifiers yet, because he's been more difficult with things in the past like night feedings and coming completely off the bottle than Grace was, so I just didn't even want to hassle with it yet. However, the other night we were over Ray's parent's house having dinner, and Nate had to go several hours without his pacifier because it had gotten lost. On the drive home, over an hour past his bedtime, he did remarkably well, so I thought maybe we should try to get rid of it then. We had a good excuse for Nate-that he lost it and we couldn't find it. He also thinks that Baby Isaac has the others, since I had been prepping him in the fact that Isaac is a baby and babies need Uh Ohs and Nate is a big boy and soon we'd give Isaac all of Nate's Uh Ohs. I had a plan to take him to the post office and mail them in a box. (I'd always heard of people having their kids successfully get off of their pacifiers by giving them to other "babies" so I thought I'd try that). Well that was Monday night and here we are today and still no Uh Oh. He has slept through 2 whole nights, VERY well I might add, without them. Nap time yesterday was a major struggle, but other than that, he's done well.
So I think its safe to say we have gotten rid of Nate's Uh Oh. While I know this is a great thing, theres the little empathetic part of me that feels bad for him. Here's this thing that this little boy has had his WHOLE life, that is part of his life, and we just take it away. And he asks about it every now and then, and it just melts my heart because he asks so sweetly. Don't worry, I'm not going to give in now, we've gotten too far. But I still can't help feeling a little badly about it. Plus it also means my little guy, my baby, is growing up, and that's hard to realize sometimes. But I know that Nate will be ok, and me, too, and we don't have to worry about losing and finding Uh Ohs anymore.
For Grace, we tried to get rid of her pacifier one day by just taking it away, and it was REALLY hard. We ended up giving it back to her and said we'd try again sometime soon. One day, we were out, and I don't know if we just didn't have any more pacifiers with us, or if we just didn't have any more at all (they got lost and broken), but Grace had been biting holes in them around that time. Once she bit a hole in it, she was unable to suck on them and no longer wanted that particular pacifier. Well, we were out, and she bit a hole in the only one we had there, and wanted another one. We ended up telling her that she broke it and we didn't have any and there wasn't anything we could do. It ended up being a while and she was doing well, so instead of getting her another one, we decided to try to get rid of it that day. We succeeded. From that day on, she never put another pacifier in her mouth. Well, with the exception of one day after that when she found one somewhere, and proceeded to find me and just look at me in the eyes while she sucked away- kind of with that look of, "Look at what I have in my mouth, Mom." I snatched that pacifier out of her mouth so fast!! Anyway, that was about 2 months after her 2nd birthday.
So fast forward to now, when Nate 2 years and 5 months old. I hadn't tried to get rid of his pacifiers yet, because he's been more difficult with things in the past like night feedings and coming completely off the bottle than Grace was, so I just didn't even want to hassle with it yet. However, the other night we were over Ray's parent's house having dinner, and Nate had to go several hours without his pacifier because it had gotten lost. On the drive home, over an hour past his bedtime, he did remarkably well, so I thought maybe we should try to get rid of it then. We had a good excuse for Nate-that he lost it and we couldn't find it. He also thinks that Baby Isaac has the others, since I had been prepping him in the fact that Isaac is a baby and babies need Uh Ohs and Nate is a big boy and soon we'd give Isaac all of Nate's Uh Ohs. I had a plan to take him to the post office and mail them in a box. (I'd always heard of people having their kids successfully get off of their pacifiers by giving them to other "babies" so I thought I'd try that). Well that was Monday night and here we are today and still no Uh Oh. He has slept through 2 whole nights, VERY well I might add, without them. Nap time yesterday was a major struggle, but other than that, he's done well.
So I think its safe to say we have gotten rid of Nate's Uh Oh. While I know this is a great thing, theres the little empathetic part of me that feels bad for him. Here's this thing that this little boy has had his WHOLE life, that is part of his life, and we just take it away. And he asks about it every now and then, and it just melts my heart because he asks so sweetly. Don't worry, I'm not going to give in now, we've gotten too far. But I still can't help feeling a little badly about it. Plus it also means my little guy, my baby, is growing up, and that's hard to realize sometimes. But I know that Nate will be ok, and me, too, and we don't have to worry about losing and finding Uh Ohs anymore.
2 comments:
I must say this is a monumental event in Nathan's life. And for all of us who have been having conversations with the little guy-our lives are considerably easier. Up until now it has been one or two words spoken and then: "ummmph,rrgghhhh,rmmmfrump",until someone says "Nate,take out your "uh oh"!" And then we can (most of the time)understand what he is trying to tell us. It was pretty sad looking all over the house the other night-mostly Gabbi crawling underneath chairs and digging under seat cushions-dreading the ride home! But alas, all's well that ends well...As for grandma, I think I'm going out and buy some tootsie roll pops to keep in my car:)don't worry Nate, we aren't going to let you grow up too fast!
I agree, at least we'll be able to understand him a bit better! I love how he's talking on the phone now. He's so Cute!!
Love you guys-
Katie
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