Bye Bye Pacifier

Day #1
Luc's been using his pacifiers more as a teething/chew toy then sucking on it for comfort. Of course he loves it when he goes to sleep or he's bored. Over the past month or more, I've thrown out about 3-4 pacifiers because he's chewed them apart. Last week he put a hole in his last pacifier, and I told Luc that once this one was broken it is going in the trash and Mommy doesn't have any more pacifiers left.

Newborn Luc

Yesterday, Luc chewed a bigger hole in his pacifier and kept telling my mom all day that it had a 'boo boo'.  Frederic was with me when I picked up Luc from my mom's after work and he showed us his broken pacifier. Frederic mentioned that it should go in the trash if it's broken. So Luc went to the cabinet to open the door where the trash is and went back to get his pacifier. I stopped him on his way over and told Luc that if he throws it away, that's it. No more pacifiers. He took it, threw it in the trash and said 'Bye Bye,' and closed the trash door. He didn't look back.
One the way home, Frederic kept him entertained by pretending to scare one another. Even at the store, he didn't ask for it. The rest of the evening, Luc and Dada played and went for a walk. He once started to ask for it, but Frederic was able to distract him again. When it was time to go to bed, Luc was looking for the pacifier. He had his blanket and thought we had the pacifier on the table. We reminded him that he threw it away at Grandma's because it was broken.
While we were changing him for bed he really started to cry. It was like someone had died. I can understand that. Something he was attached to and 'loved' was now gone. I can see where that's sad and upsetting. Frederic got him a little piece of chocolate, which seemed to shut him up. We did our normal bedtime routine and whenever he made the pacifier motion with his lips, we ignored it. I had him hug his monkey that he keeps in his crib and told him when he's sad to hug the monkey or his blanket. I also told him he we weren't taking his blanket away from him. I kissed him goodnight and said 'night night'. He responded 'night night', laid down and we didn't hear from him until 5:30am.

 Day #2
When he woke up, I went into his room and laid down on the floor next to his crib. I put my hand through the bars for Luc to hold my finger. He didnt' fall back asleep, but he laid there for awhile. His head touched my hand and I guess he was sleepy enough that he thought my ring was the pacifier and started to lick it and put it in his mouth. But the whole 30 minutes I was there he didn't ask for his pacifier. He still didn't ask for it while Frederic was getting ready for work and when he left with Frederic.
Frederic and I decided to give him one of his birthday presents early today as a gift for giving up his pacifier and being a good boy about it. And also as a distraction later in the day when he wants his pacifier the most. 

When Frederic was saying goodbye to Luc at my mom's, Luc handed his blanket to my mom (as is the routine) and then went to grab the pacifier out of his mouth too. Frederic and mom laughed and Luc wasn't phased by it. Luc was good all morning, not even wanting his blanket, until it was time for him to take a nap. He was looking for his pacifier and Mom had to remind him he threw it out yesterday. So Luc went to the trash and started looking inside for it and Mom told him it's gone already. He cried a little and snuggled up on Mom's shoulder. Then she brought him to his crib and he pretty easily fell asleep. He slept 3 hours.

I brought Luc the fire truck when I picked him up. I asked him if he'd had a pacifier that day and he said No with a little sad look on his face. I handed over the fire truck and said it was for being good and Big boy. He was ecstatic!

Luc didn't ask for his pacifier the rest of the day, even at bed time. And he ignored his blanket as well until I handed it to him before bed. Hopefully we can transition the blanket staying in the crib from now on.
We're really surprised how well Luc's doing with this. I think it definitely helped that he threw the pacifier away and we didn't really make him do it. Having the busy weekend the day before I think also helped him separate from the pacifier.
I can actually feel a relief in myself these past few days. Not that I hated the pacifier, but making sure I always had it on me for certain occasions, or that it didn't get lost or dirty, or could find it in the middle of the night under the crib was somewhat stressful. It was something else I always had to remember and keep tabs on. It was also something I started to worry about effecting Luc's front teeth (they seemed to push out more when he started using the pacifier more often) and his speech (when the pacifier was in his mouth he wasn't as vocal and I couldn't understand what he was saying).
*sigh of relief*