Goodbye and Hello

After nearly 3 long years, we have FINALLY bid a fond farewell to the pacifier. We had been talking up the big goodbye for about a week. Ben has only used the paci at nap time and bedtime for a long time now, but was very dependent upon it to fall asleep. We were really concerned about this big change for him. Saturday morning we placed our last 2 pacis in a gift bag and "gave them" to a baby. Ben said goodbye and told them that he was a big boy and didn't need them anymore! We then went shopping and visited Build-A-Bear where Ben built a very cool puppy and dressed him in an equally cool Superman outfit and Super Puppy was born! Super Puppy is his gift to celebrate being a big boy and replace paci. Ben has really done a good job making the transition away from the paci. He is having a hard time learning how to relax and put himself to sleep but he is getting there. We definitely expected it to be hard and he is really doing a great job. On the same day that we said goodbye to paci, we said hello to our first accident-free day! Ben has been wearing big boy underwear pretty much exclusively during the day with the exception of nap time and bedtime for about the past 2 weeks. He does a great job, but typically has a couple of accidents a day. Saturday was our first day with no accidents! Yeah. Sunday was a great day too. He did have an accident during naptime, but oh well! He is making great progress. What a big boy!