Bye-bye nuh-nuh, Phase 1

Nuh-Nuh:

Now that Raina's verbal vocabulary (as opposed to signing vocab) is increasing, I've begun to see the need to get rid of the pacifier. It's a scary thing to me. I'll admit to relying on it for purposes other than self-soothing on Raina's part (translated: It was a quick and easy way to make her quiet...though, when put that way, I sound like the worst mom EVER). Anyways, after her daddy returned from a work trip that had him out of town for several days, I decided to start the process. Phase 1 consists of confining the nuh-nuh's use to just nap and bed times. It's been about a week now, and I'm amazed at how smoothly it's going. In her crib we have placed one of her stuffed animals (a monkey) that's actually shaped like a basket. It's monkey's job to hold her nuh-nuhs safe and sound until it's time to sleep again. We tell her this before taking her out of her crib, and I have yet to encounter an absurd amount of resistance. She usually very matter-of-factly agrees with my assessment of monkey's trustworthiness and hands her nuh-nuh over graciously. I can count on one hand the number of times tears were involved. Also surprisingly, she very rarely asks for it during the day, and when she does, I simply remind her that monkey is holding onto them until it's time to sleep because Raina is a big girl and big girls don't need their nuh-nuhs, to which she'll say "yah!" and continue about her business. I have to admit that I've been tempted to tuck one in my pocket at certain times...this morning's visit to the ultrasound clinic being one of them...ya know, just in case...but she was good (for a 21-month-old :). The saga will continue, I'm sure.

As for baby #2, I got to see him again today (and yes, I think it's a boy). He's still in that peanut-looking stage...not all that "interesting"...but I found myself a little more enthralled today because of how much he was moving around. Raina wasn't that active so early on. Is it silly to already be worried about how much this little bugger is going to hurt when he gets bigger?!? Well, I am!

It's Chris' b-day tomorrow. We have this tradition...the b-day boy or girl starts saying "It's my birthday" about a week before the actual b-day so as to extend b-day benefits for way longer than they should be extended. Well, I didn't do that for my last birthday...I was probably too busy with baby stuff...but Chris has started tonight. Granted, not the week as is our custom, but he's making up for the late start by being, um, overly obnoxious about it. Case in point: I just had a brain freeze and asked him "How to you spell obnoxious?" to which he replied "J-e-s-s." I'm a little bitter seeing as how I didn't get these benefits for my last b-day, but I'm gonna let it go with a smile and just pile it on extra extra thick next April. Extra extra mega thick.