The Daily Nusz

Last year at this time, there was BIG NEWS in the Nusz household.  Savannah had relinquished her nippy.  At the time, she was 2 years and 10 months old.

Last weekend was Dec’s coming of age.  Why, you ask?  After all, he’s only 21 months old.  And a chronic whiner. 

My theory about pacifiers has always been that if a child is old enough to really understand why the nippy is discontinued, they will cope with its loss better.  I don’t think it’s fair to just have it disappear one day.  I think I have a fear that they will subconsciously look for it for the rest of their life.  So, I waited until Savannah was old enough to understand when I told her that she was a big girl and didn’t need a nippy anymore (and I snipped off the end of it, which helped her realize that she didn’t really need it).

We’ve been murmuring about getting rid of Dec’s pacifier for awhile now.  A few weeks ago, his friend Sara successfully got rid of hers.  Then his friend Madeleine did also.  Did they fuss?  Not really.  Did they lose sleep?  Nope.  Did they throw themselves on the floor and scream “Momma!  Nippy!  Momma!” for days and days (do you see where I’m going with this?)?  Absolutely not.

Things came to a head last Friday (April 24:  1 year and 2 days from the great nippy removal of Savannah Elizabeth).  As Kevin and I readied the kids for school, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to bring Dec’s pacifier home from school the previous day (he has a million, so he hadn’t missed it at bedtime).  Kevin said, “Oh, I don’t think I remembered to bring one yesterday”.  I was dumbfounded.  His teacher hadn’t mentioned Dec not having a pacifier!  Did he cry all day and his teacher didn’t mention it?  So Kevin took the kids to school and asked Ms. Gina if Dec had used his pacifier at naptime.  She said, no, he hadn’t.  He had layed down and slept for 2 hours without the pacifier.

Well.   I think that’s a sign.  He’s ready.  Let’s roll with this.

Kevin tells Ms. Gina to TRY and avoid giving Dec the pacifier at naptime.  I wait on pins and needles all day, wondering if he’ll repeat his performance from the day before.  He does.  He’s fine.

So, even though Kevin’s brother’s family is coming into town that day for the weekend, we make the decision to rid our home of the pacifier.  This is what I do:

1)  I call my friend Kerry and ask her if we can use her baby daughter, Anna, for “Operation Nippy Removal”.  She agrees.

2)  I go to Target and purchase a big blue ball that Dec has been coveting.

3) After picking the kids up from daycare, we go to the doctor’s office because Savannah is complaining of her ear hurting.  She has an ear infection.  The doctor checks Dec’s ears too, just so I can be sure that when he’s crying over his lost nippy that he isn’t crying because of ear pain, too.  His ears are fine.

4)  We go home and eat dinner.  Then I coach Dec through the process of gathering all his nippies together and putting them in a shoebox.  We talk about how he’s going to give them to Baby Anna because she’s a baby and she needs the nippies.  Decky’s a big boy and he’s all done with his nippies.

5)  We climb into the car (the big blue ball is in the trunk, out of sight).  Dec’s holding the box o’ nippies in his lap.  We get to Baby Anna’s house and I park strategically so I can bring the big blue ball into the house without Dec seeing. 

6)  We enter the house and Dec is encouraged to give Baby Anna his gift.  He does so, and we all clap.  Baby Anna “gives” Dec the big blue ball, which is very exciting.  Dec says bye-bye to the nippies and we go home.  I’m so proud.

Fast forward to 7:00 pm.  Bedtime.  All my in-laws are visiting and are lounging in the living room.  I read Dec his story and he asks, “Nippy?”  I say, “No, you gave your nippies to Baby Anna”.  He says, “Nippy bye-bye.”  I agree.  He says, “Nippy bye-bye.  Ball!”  I’m so pleased.  He understands that he gave his nippies to Baby Anna and he got a ball!

As I lay him down in his crib and rub his back for a minute, I think, “Wow, this is working!  I’m like the best parent ever!”  As I leave the room, a screech fills the air.  “NIPPY!!!!”  I shut the door, feeling tearful.  “NIPPY!  MOMMA!”  The sobs are loud and wet.  Within minutes he’s gasping for breath, “Nippy!  Momma! Momma!  Momma! Wahhhhhh!”

It’s awful.  Seriously.  I feel like the worst parent ever.

After 25 minutes of listening to his pleas, I reenter his room.  His face is swollen and wet.  Boogers stream down his face.  He’s sweaty and his pajamas are all twisted, as though he’s been writhing around in his crib.  I rock him for a few minutes and we talk about how “nippy is all gone”.  He says, “no, no, nooooooo”.  I say yes.

I leave the room again.  After 10 minutes of wretched crying, he’s blessedly quiet. 

I’m worried that he died of a broken heart.

1:20 am.  Screaming in the night.  Rocking.  Screaming.  Sleeping.

4:00 am.  Screaming.  Rocking.  Screaming. 

5:00 am  Sleeping.

6:20 am  Up for the day.  A day of listening to him crying about nippy.  A day of me cursing those little brats Sara and Madeleine who made this look so easy.

The day passes in a blur of crying and blanket-clutching.  During naptime, he screams for nearly an hour.   That night, he cries hysterically for 40 minutes, then falls asleep.  He sleeps all night.  I do not, wondering if he’ll wake up.

It’s now Sunday.  For short periods of time, he plays nicely.  Once again, he screams during naptime.  He cries for 30 minutes at bedtime and sleeps through the night. 

Monday morning.  We all wake up.  Within 1 hour, I am stricken with a terrible stomach bug.  My in-laws come over to watch the kids while I huddle in the bathroom for most of the day.  My mother-in-law puts Dec down for his nap.  He cries for about 5 minutes and falls asleep.   The worst is over.

It’s now been exactly a week.  He still mentions nippy occasionally, but now reaches more quickly for his blankie.  I’ll take it.  A blankie can’t mess up his teeth, delay his speech, or be laced with cocaine and used by high-schoolers (did you know they do that?  I digress). 

We are a nippy-free household.  Although I think that at least one of us still has a broken heart.