Norah Un-plugged

After Norah turned two years old during our California trip, we decided we would gradually start to wean Norah off of her pacifier or "pluggy" as she calls it. Since she has been obsessed with them for as long as we can remember, even refusing to sleep without one, we were preparing ourselves for what we thought would be an epic battle. Much to our surprise and extreme relief, things worked out much differently.

Over the course of two years Norah's pluggies had become damaged or lost, so we were down to only two. Neither Jeff nor I wanted to have her go cold turkey, so we purchased a couple more of the same brand and style to replace some of the missing ones. That day I handed a new one to her as one of the two older ones had a tear in it. She refused to take the new one, and I refused to give her the one with the tear in it. So she took her first nap without one. She cried "Pluggy! Pluggy!" for a bit, then fell asleep. That night we tried again to give her a new one, but she flat out refused, so went to bed without one. Again she cried for a bit, then fell asleep.

She hasn't used a pluggy since. She only occasionally half-heartedly asks for one any more and has never once tried to take one of Justin's (She will steal his toys, but pluggies are evidently just too personal to steal). After all of our imaginings the reality was somewhat anti-climatic, but we are very thankful for that! It has been wonderful to see that beautiful smile no longer hidden!