Time To Say Good Bye 2-17-10

No, not to Xanga...yet.  I am referring to Noah's paci. Tricked ya! 

We have known for a long, long time that Noah's love affair with his paci had to come to an end. We cut Landon off around the beginning of age 2, and even though Noah only got it at bedtime (and naptime) it seemed a bit ridiculous to us. But he loved it so. I mean, really...not just loved to suck it, but loved to hold it and talk to it. It was a person to him...his co-best friend (with Love..his little green blanket that looks like a dust rag being his other bff). So his pac got a hole in it awhile back. I knew that took the pleasure out of sucking it, so I hoped the he would give it up on his own...but alas, no such luck. After awhile it just became unsafe for him to keep sucking this thing...so Sunday night, I just did it...I snipped it. With Landon, Elmo "ate" his paci. With Noah, it was Caillou. I always try to choose a character that I know they will still love when they get over their initial anger 

When I took Noah into bed that night and saw the eaten paci, he was HEARTBROKEN. And mad at Caillou. In fact, he wanted Caillou to get spanked (backstory here...Caillou has been coming over regularly and even has a fake bed in Noahs room...he has become somewhat of an imaginary friend). So I went out of his room, shut the door, slapped my leg three times and went back in. He was satisfied and the very next day he told me Caillou was coming over to play again...so apparently he loves him again . Anyway, the kid was so sad that night. Big alligator tears rolling down his cheeks...he kept handing me the pac and saying in the most pathetic tone possible, "Its brooooookkkkkennnnn!" I didn't know what to do. I wanted to meet him where he was in his misery, but I didn't want to start any bad nighttime habits. So in a moment of brilliance I went downstairs, got down one of my keepsake boxes and dusted off my old cabbage patch kid. Noah loves babies. I went into his room and told him that he could sleep with my doll that night and take care of her. It worked. Never heard from him again. And he has not asked for his paci again. Amazing. He has, however, dragged my doll around with him everywhere. So far she has been named Otto Fishes and Evie (after our neighbors baby daughter whom he dearly loves). I do realize it is a tad bit strange that my son wanted a doll so much that he completely got over his bff, but God has given me some tenderhearted boys who love to nurture. They will be great daddies some day  And he has introduced her to some new sports...like playing with guns and bombing brother and obstacle courses and lets not forget the time he tried to "fix" her with his tool set. Yes, she is getting broken into a whole new world...of boys 

Noah also, has become a lover of salads. I know for many of you, this is nothing new. But not for me. See, I have a firstborn that STILL gags if he puts more than two peas in his mouth at a time. A kid who won't even look at a lettuce leaf, let alone eat it. So the fact that I gave my youngest son a salad for lunch three times last week bc he begged me for it...thrills me to my core. And it even lead to big brother eating some matchstick carrots with dinner the other night. Nevermind that he gagged three times on three bites. I am sure at least a few of the pieces of carrots made it down Landon's throat 

Love day was a big hit here again. We made homemade Valentines for eachother, with a small love gift for each person. You can see from Noah's face that he thought his character-quality CAR movie was quite the hit. We had a nice evening together. Saturday Jonathan surprised me and had my parents come up and get the kids. We ended up at a small Italian restaurant where we enjoyed the BEST pizza and even had a live accordion player serenade us. Very nice. We then met up with some friends downtown and ended the night with Dear John. We had a lovely evening together! Sunday was my Grandpa's 87th birthday...another fabulous day!

And I will join the chorus and say I am so ready for spring. This winter was going so fast. But somehow it slowed right down to a screeching halt. I am getting stir crazy, restless, moody, whiny (can you tell) and in desperate need of some fresh air...bike rides, even manual labor...as long as I can be outside and the temperature is above 45 degrees. Some days I am handling this constant snow and cold just fine. Others not so much. This would be one of those not-so-much kind of days.