Matthew's free!

Of a baboosh, that is. A few days ago I told Jason that I thought it was time to get rid of Matthew's baboosh. He saw one on the counter the other day and started fussing for it, so I thought his habit was going to far and decided to intervene before the situation worsened. We had been talking about it for awhile and really wanted to end their relationship before #3 arrived and now, it appears, the time was right.

However, after telling Jason that, I reconsidered. Can I stand a few nights of very poor sleep? What about napping? I can't do without Matthew's nap. I need it practically more than he does. All sorts of awful thoughts went through my mind...he'll cry at bedtime for an hour, he'll wake every hour and cry, he won't nap at all, he'll keep Sam up with his crying, we'll have two unhappy, sleep-deprived little kids on our hands. Oh dear. My resolve weakened and I thought maybe now wasn't the time, maybe later.

But later that evening after Jason had put Matthew to bed, he came into the bathroom where I was giving Sam and bath, showed me Matthew's pacifier and said, "We'll see how it goes." Too late now. I could hear Matthew screaming in his room. I hushed Sam down so our voices weren't a distraction to Matthew, but then a minutes or so later there was silence. I was incredulous. We finished up bath and Sam went to bed and we didn't hear from Matthew until the next morning at 6:30 AM.

Surely nap time will be different, I thought. He won't nap, it will be horrible, Sam won't nap, I'll go crazy and on and on went my crazy thoughts. When he started yawning yesterday morning I took him up to his bedroom, we did a quick naptime routine and while I was rocking him he desperately tried to find something to suck on. No luck. Here goes, I thought. I put him in his crib and he loudly protested...for about 10 seconds. Then I didn't hear from him for another hour.

Bedtime last night was just as successful. He cried when I left the room, I hung up his bath towel and when I had finished, he was silent. Didn't hear from him until 6:40AM. Naptime today was similar, except that he protested for about 3 seconds. Wow. No baboosh fairy needed. No sleepless nights. No missed naps and keeping Sam up too. Amazing. The kid continues to amaze me.