The Paci-Thief

I am a bad mama. Grady still has a paci...but ONLY in his crib when he goes to sleep at night. That's it. I know, I know...I need to get rid of it. But mamas will do ANYTHING to get sleep, it seems. When I was Grady's age, my mom told me that the Easter Bunny needed a paci for her baby...and according to Mom, I just accepted it as that, no questions asked...and that was the end of the paci for me. Hmmm....... Josh wanted to do this at Christmas and let Buddy the Elf take it to Santa for an elf baby somewhere. But I didn't think that would fly with Grady-man, and so we didn't. So now, Josh has told me that I have no choice...the paci is going bye-bye. SO, Grady and I have been having some "talks" about it at night when we are doing the bedtime routine, getting out of the bathtub, getting his pj's on, etc. I told him all about the Easter bunny and all of the baby bunnies around the world that need paci's from big boys and girls who don't need theirs anymore... (Meanwhile, Grady listens to every word I am saying very carefully with wide eyes...) I am feeling good, like he's paying attention and might be possibly comprehending just a portion of what I'm saying. And then I ask the question... "Grady, are you going to be a big boy and give the baby bunnies your paci?" He looks straight at me and says REALLY loud and emphatically as he shakes his head, "NO!" Ok, so he DOES understand me... But the boy has a mind of his own for SURE! Lately, we've figured out that his favorite word on the planet is NO. But we've also realized that it's our fault... we say it to him all the time, so he's quite used to hearing it and knows exactly how to say it himself. ANYWAY, maybe he'll change his mind about the whole give-the-paci-to-the-bunny-thing. We'll see... Here are a few of his "bunny pictures"... He would NOT let the bunny sit in his lap, or on a bench near him. He liked it "over there" but not up close and personal. Poor kid...he was probably thinking this was the paci-thief and didn't want to get too close...