This week, the twins have been going to variety of places since their regular babysitter couldn't work. One of those places is the home of Angie Phillips. The twins had a blast playing at her house and when I picked them up Tuesday afternoon, Angie told me that the twins hadn't used their pacies for nap on Monday or Tuesday. So this gave me the idea of ridding them of their pacies once and for all. All the way home we talked about how they were a big boy and a big girl in their new big kid beds and that pacies were for babies. When we got home, we went into their bedroom, they each grabbed a pacy, and they both threw them into the trash can. I could see that it bothered Eden but a distraction of playing outside got her mind off of the situation. We talked the rest of the night about how they were going to sleep without pacies because they were big kids!
1st Night:
At bedtime, Eden looked for her pacy but I reminded her that she was a big girl and we threw them away. This seemed to satisfy her so we went on with their bedtime routine. She climbed into her bed and . . . found a pacy! Oops! She freely handed it over and laid down to sleep. Gabe normally doesn't care to have a pacy but uses it because Eden does so he went to bed with no problems.
45 minutes later came the first of many crying fits from Eden. We quickly learned that I only make the situation worse while Daryl is able to calm her down and get out of the room. She has a finger nail coming off that she won't keep a band-aid on so it gets caught on her covers and hurts. This doesn't help the situation, at all. She finally went to sleep around 11:30 and awoke at 2:33 when Gabe cried out for us to cover him up. She was fine until I went into the room, then took another hour to calm down. She awoke again when Gabe cried out for his Daddy and would normally be satisfied by a pat on the back but when Eden screamed Gabe became upset too. This time, was the first time, Eden asked for her pacy. Daryl reminded her that she's a big girl and we threw them away. She finally went back to sleep around 3:30 and slept until Gabe woke up when he heard Silas cry at 6:15. Eden was definitely not ready to get up but within a few minutes was in a good mood and ready to go to Stacy's house to play with Eli. I hope they have a good day, take a good nap, and we both hope she goes to sleep much easier tonight.
2nd Night
I think there was one point Daryl and I looked at each other ready to give up . . . but we didn't. This night started really rough. We got ready for bed, Eden asked for her pacy, we told her that she's a big girl that doesn't need a pacy, read them a book, said our prayers, and they both got in bed. Eden cried out about 3 times in the first 15 minutes but all 3 were for small things like her night lite, or blanket. But at 8:30 she was determined to get her way. This brain-piercing scream came out of her that we had never heard before. She would get quiet as long as we were in the room with her but when we left she started it again. So we decided to let her cry it out. Daryl checked on her about every 15 minutes but in between she was screaming so loud we could still hear her with the monitors off and our hands over our ears. She began kicking the wall (I could hear her name plate clanging) with her screams. Amazingly, Gabe's bed is only 5 feet away from her and he didn't wake up one time during this ordeal. At 9:30, it stopped. She gave up. I quickly went to bed afraid that I would only get an hour or so of sleep but at 11:30 I was startled awake to hear absolutely nothing! The rest of the night was silent as well. I feel like we've (especially Eden) made progress. She was in a great mood this morning and hopefully will go to bed easier tonight.
3rd Night
I'm not sure if it was absolute exhaustion or that she is getting over her pacy but Eden didn't make a sound all night long! If this happens again tomorrow night then I think we can say our pacy phase has ended!
4th Night
It's over! The twins both went to bed without any problems! Thank you God for making this a quick and mostly painless experience. I feel such a relief to be free from these pacies. There is no more getting up in the middle of the night to find a pacy or forgetting pacies at home when they stay the night with someone else! Well, at least this is true for the twins . . .
