See Ya Later Soother – Part 1

My daughter Ryan is almost two and a half, and is ridiculously attached to her soother. Although she only uses one at nap time while at daycare, at home it is a whole different story. From the time she wakes up in the morning, until she goes to bed at night, that soother is with her, or very close by. At home, in the car, when out for a walk…it’s everywhere she is!

At least, that was until this weekend.

After returning home from visiting my sister this week, I decided it was time to get rid of the soother. I also decided that this would happen in two parts….Part 1 – soother only at nap time and bedtime…Part 2 – getting rid of the soother all together.

After prepping Ryan friday afternoon and evening that she was going to have to leave her soother in her room starting tomorrow, we stared Part 1 first thing Saturday morning. When Ryan woke up in the morning, we asked her to leave her soother in her room. We let her choose where she wanted to leave it so she would know where it was and that it would be in a safe spot. She agreed to leave it on her mini kitchen in her room, and then we headed down stairs for breakfast.

She asked about her soother once or twice that morning, but we reminded her that it was on her kitchen in her room and that she could have it at nap time, and that was pretty much it. She was awesome. Come nap time, Ryan was super eager to go up to bed because she knew her soother was up in her room. She napped like a champ, and when she woke up, she put her soother back on her kitchen and headed downstairs to play.

Today Ryan put her soother on her kitchen without even being asked and didn’t ask about it at all. Same thing after her nap. And she actually asked to go to bed tonight because her soother was up there. Wow, is this kid for real?

I was surprised at how easy to accomplish Part 1 of getting rid of Ryan’s soother. Im thinking that in a few weeks, when Ryan turns two and a half, we will attempt Part 2 – getting rid of it entirely. I’ve heard of people using the soother fairy idea and that sounds like a pretty good strategy. Anyone have any other methods? I’d love to hear what worked for you!