Bye Bye NUK's

Friday night was the launching of the Nuk's (paci's, whatever anyone call them). Maddy has used her nuk since she's been born. After about 9 months, she only used it for bedtime, and from then on was quite attached. I have always hated the nuks, but if it was only for bedtime, I learned to tolerate. We decided that she was getting to be a big girl and we have been talking it up with her for the past month. Big girls don't need nuks anymore. She wanted nothing to do with that... I was a bit worried that she wouldn't be able to get to sleep, wake up all night, and the list goes on. My mom gave the idea of launching her nuks into the air on balloons to fly away to the babies that needed them. Did I really think this was going to work??? NO!!!! But, that night, we decided we should give it a try. We have lots of overnights, mini-vacations, etc coming up...that we thought that if we didn't do this now, it might be a long time coming. We prepped her the remainder of the night, and she seemed to be ok with "giving" her nuks to the babies that needed them. We weren't really sure if she understood that they would be gone, but we're going to give it a try! She was very excited to let her balloons fly away, "They are flying so far away, all the way to the moon" she proclaims. That night, she went to bed and wondered when her nuks were coming back. We reminded her that she sent them to the babies that needed them, and she was happy. I think we underestimate a child's ability to roll with the punches. All the milestones I think she would have a hard time with, stopping the bottle, moving out of the crib, getting rid of the nuks, and so many more, she always seems to adapt so well. I was preparing myself for a week of crying and having a hard time sleeping. None of that happened and its been 3 nights and counting. Hooray!