Bye Bye Paci

Last night, Michael said bye bye to his paci. Yep, at 4 years old, he still couldn't break from the thing at night. Enough was enough though. Time to go cold turkey.

We told Michael that we had heard from some other moms and kids that if you hang your paci outside on a tree at night, the next morning it will be gone. A new toy will be in it's place. He was intrigued by this idea.

So before bedtime last night, we all went outside to hang up his paci. We let him pick the location. He wanted to hang it on a plant hook on the front porch, "in case it rains". That's my boy! Always think things through! See his paci in the picture?

Daddy and Michael had a campout in the family room last night to help make things easier. Lo and behold, this morning the paci was gone! Hanging there was Henrietta the train from the Thomas & Friends series. Michael said that "a person came in the night in a car and took his pacifier and hung up a train". He also said he "had a little trouble getting to sleep" last night. Too cute!

In addition, giving up his paci means that Michael can also now have trains in his room. He sometimes gets frustrated downstairs when Matthew wants to play on the tracks as well. So we had told him that when his paci was gone, he could have trains in his room. He was so excited to see them there this morning!

As an aside, before we moved to South Carolina, I had never heard the term "paci". Back north, it was always "binky". I never liked the term "binky". Are there any other regional terms for a pacifier out there?