Bye Bye Toochie

For those who don't know, a "toochie" is the name we have for the pacifier in our house.  And Brooks has slept with it every night almost since the day he was born.  To say he was attached to it is a bit of an understatment.  But I was ok with that.  He only used it for nap and bedtime and as soon as he woke up he knew he needed to put it away.  And with a new baby, and then a not-so-new baby who didn't sleep, I really wasn't ready to tackle getting rid of it.  But for the last few weeks, Brooks has woken up one, two or even three times a night crying because he lost his toochie.

(sigh)  This toochie was becoming more problematic than it was helpful.  So Chris and I decided it was time to say good-bye to the toochie.  It was a tough decision we knew we'd been putting off, but it was time.  So yesterday morning Chris had a good father-son chat about how "big boys" don't need toochies for bed time and Daddy doesn't sleep with a toochie, etc.  Then we took a trip to Target to buy him a new "lovey" to sleep with at bedtime.  I knew it wouldn't really replace the toochie, but that was the idea.

Brooks and his new puppy, "Fuzzy"

Then we headed to the river.  Yep, the river.  Chris and I were racking our brains as to how we would actually get rid of the toochie.  We couldn't just throw it in the garbage because when nap time came he would dig it back out again (or try, at least).  We needed something very permanent; where there would be no way to get it back.  So we decided on the river.  (I know, not very enviromentally friendly but just don't call the EPA, okay?)  Brooks grabbed both his toochies, walked down to the bank and chucked 'em in.  He seemed really ok with this new idea.  He threw them in himself, waved bye-bye and that was that.

Until nap time.  As we walked up the stairs we talked about the toochies being gone and now that he was a big boy he didn't need them anymore.  And he agreed.  But when it came time to lay down, the reality of the situation finally sunk in.  And then he panicked.  "I want my toochie.  I need my toochie.  We need to get a new toochie!"  I hated seeing him so distraught, but there was nothing I could do.  We talked, we hugged, he talked some more.  He started searching for solutions to this problem.  "I could use Carter's toochie.  We could go to the store and buy me a new toochie."  Sorry buddy, they're gone.  After about half an hour of talking, I left the room.  And he cried.  And cried.  And cried.

I felt awful.  But we had to get through this.  After a while Chris went up and calmed him down but he never did take a nap.  And then I started to panick.  If eliminating the toochie meant eliminating nap time, I may want to take Brooks up on his suggestion of buying a new toochie :\  But I figure we would give it a few days and see how things went.  When bedtime came we went through the same routine.  Him negotiating for a new toochie and us reminding him that it was really and completely gone.  Chris laid in his bed with him for almost an hour until Brooks finally fell asleep.  What a good Dad!

But after all that drama and crying, Brooks slept the whole night.  He didn't wake up even once!  Which I had hoped would be the case since I knew how tired he was.

Then today at nap time we were prepared for more crying and negotiating.  But he went into his room and laid down without a fuss.  It took him a while to fall asleep (I could hear him playing around in his room) but that's not too unusual.  And he did eventually fall asleep!  Can I hear an amen!  Bedtime tonight?  Same story.  He did ask for his toochie but I reminded him that he gave it to the fishes (clever, huh?) and he seemed ok with it.  No crying.  No negotiating.  It's simply the way it is now.

And just like that the toochie is gone.  Forever.  I'm so proud of my big boy!!