Its been almost four full days that Kalle has been paci-free and I am missing that pacifier almost more than she is! Kalle hasn't been such an advanced talker like her older sister was and we've thought that it has been because she loves her pacifier so much, she doesn't want to take it out of her mouth! She's really quite talented, she was able to cry, scream, talk (sort-of), sneeze, cough and laugh and giggle all while that paci is still tucked snuggly in her little mouth. Well, the pediatrician (who is wonderful) has been ragging on me lately because Kalle's top, front teeth are very noticeably starting to buck out like a bunny and because Kalle only talks in the back of her throat instead of enunciating with her lips and tongue. It more like a grunting, raspy, Asian-sounding language that she has developed. So Chris and I (with heavy hearts) began plans to de-pacifier our almost 2 and a half year old toddler.
Kalle is a bit of a stinker sometimes and she is tricky to discipline because she just doesn't care about too much. We'll take her toys away, put her in time out, make her sleep in her baby crib, strap her in the car in the parking lot, unplug the tv (that one at least gets a reaction sometimes), and lots of other things I might now want to write on here for fear of being reported to social services ;-) Most of the time, Kalle really doesn't care. Its soooo frustrating! How are you supposed to teach your child good behavior when they could care less what your saying? On Monday night, Kalle had been blatantly disobedient MULTIPLE TIMES and Chris and I had a calm discussion about what to do and instead of whacking her or threatening her - we took her paci away. We threw it in the garbage! Actually, we made Kalle throw it in the garbage. We're horrible. She didn't get mad, she just whimpered and cried for that paci like it was her best friend in the whole world.
Kalle has been mostly OK this week, except for when she snuggles up nicely in her bed and looks up at me and she asks so sweetly, "Paci? Please Momma? Paci Please Momma?" That is when I almost start to cry and have to leave the room. My poor little baby is so sad and I'm torturing her - all in the name of poor speech skills and buck teeth! Then I petition to Chris, "Oh come on honey. She's so sad and lonely, lets just give the paci back to her. We've got years to save up for braces and speech therapy sessions...."
But its too late. We can't back down now. We have got to maintain our ground! We may not win every battle with our stubborn children, but we are going to win this one...and hopefully we'll win the war! (meaning, I hope our girls turn out to have great pronunciation and nice teeth ;)
4 comments:
good for you. 4 days is pretty long, hopefully she'll forget soon. nolan only gets his paci at bed/nap time...he doesn't have any words yet (at 17 months). Calder also had her paci till almost 3 and she DID have to do speech therapy for a year and still needs some help. anyway, maybe pacifiers are bad? anyway, good luck!
You can always do what I did- totally give in and let her have her paci at nap and bedtimes until she's three. :)
How do you get rid of a paci that consists of your child's fingers? Your post now has me worrying that James is going to have buck teeth! Maybe I can paint his finger nails with that yucky nail polish. On the other hand, he does talk (almost too much) so I'm not worried about that. That is probably because at 10 months I refused to pick him up till he said "up" and then I just kept on him about saying things. (Really I just don't like being grunted at all the time.)
Stay strong. It would be silly to give in now when you have probably gone through the worst part of it. She probably won't even remember her paci in a few months.
Oh how I feel for you. You are braver than me....I just keep pushing it off. But one day soon, I will be hating life. Poor Kalle:) But you're doing the right thing, she'll thank you when she's a teenager and doesn't have huge buck teeth:)
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