How to get rid of a soother... if you're Erinn Bosch.

So, I was doing some reflecting last night... at around 2am... for an hour... while my sweet little 2.5 year old Isaac was screaming and sobbing in my ear that he couldn't find (and I couldn't find) his "foofie."  Now, for those of you who haven't met my children, the "foofie" is the word he chose for his soother.  Elijah called it a "soosey" and by about 15 months he was screaming whether he had it in his mouth or not so we tossed it out, end of story. 

Isaac has not been so easy to convince in terms of parting with the beloved "foofie."

All this "pondering due to a child screaming relentlessly in  my ear" came rather conveniently timed, after a mom in the Mothers Opposed to Boredom group referred to parents of children who are between 2.5 and 3 with soothers still as "bad parents" and said they aren't willing to "invest" the time in their children to take care of them.  Now I thought, SURELY the founder of MOB, was not a "bad parent" persay... was I?  Obviously, as a stay at home mom who started a group dedicated to taking our children and doing awesome fun things with them, it wasn't about "investing time" in my case.  Then I realized that if I was a bad parent it was NOT related to the "foofie" but rather the time I said the "f" word in front of Elijah and he repeated it at daycare in front of me.  Or perhaps... oh it's a long list, I don't need to go through now. 

Bottom line is, I'm NOT a bad parent, and realistically I just couldn't figure out HOW to take the "foofie" away.  I had tried once before.  It was gone for two days.  Isaac didn't sleep, I didn't sleep, he WAILED for his "foofie" the entire time.  I'm not joking - he was relentless.  So much so that I finally gave up and just said "TAKE IT, TAKE YOUR FOOFIE!"  When you shout "foofie" at a two year old, it only makes you sound silly.

So six months passed, he is fully daytime potty trained and dry most nights.  He dresses himself and feeds himself.  He drinks from a big boy cup, and doesn't sit in a high chair or booster seat.  He may be the same size as my 1 year old, but by golly, he's a big boy!

HOW would I get screamy mcFoofie pants to give up his "precious?" 

Then it happened.  The screaming.  The whining... the sudden all day need of the foofie came back.  Then the "bad parent" comment (although I never chimed in on the thread because I wasn't actually offended, I do have a love/hate relationship with soothers)... then the 1 hour night scream-a-thon last night.  I'd had ENOUGH.

Isaac woke up this morning and I stated "NO MORE FOOFIES!  FOOFIES ARE FOR BABIES!  IKEY IS A BIG BOY!"  We talked the entire day about how grown up Isaac was, about how he doesn't need a soother anymore because now he is all grown up.  We prepared all day for the inevitable.... BEDTIME.

It was a breeze.  He was ready.  He felt like he had "grown up" today and that because of this sudden change in himself, he could let go of the "foofie."  I layed with him in bed and told him over and over how proud I was that he was so grown up without a foofie. 

We snuggled and he was snoring in no time, after laying in bed beside me whispering "no more foofie, Ikey all grown up."

Even Dora the Explorer would do a victory dance for this celebration!  "We did it, we did it, we did it HOORAY!"