The BIG Milestone

Back in January when we conquered two of the big three growing-up milestones--getting a big girl bed and potty training--we predicted that the big one of the three--giving up the pacifier--would be the hardest challenge for Anna...AND WE WERE RIGHT! She'd been chewing on her pacifier and I told her if she chewed a hole in it we'd have to get rid of it and that was the only one we had. Exactly two weeks ago now, when she woke up in the morning she showed Matt her pacifier with the hole in it. He asked if she wanted to be the one to throw it away and she did. We told her she wouldn't have it at night anymore and she was ok with that...until bedtime. Going cold turkey was quite traumatic for all of us. Anna cried herself to sleep for an entire week! Bedtime this summer has been a little irregular anyway, so that didn't help. She's no longer sobbing that she "can't sleep without her pacifier" which is wonderful, but now we have to work on getting a better bedtime routine. Sometimes it's so hard to grow up! We are very proud of her, though, for winning this challenge. We know there are more to come, and we love watching her and helping her grow up and learn and experience new things! We sure love her very, very much!!