Pacis and Potties

Apparently Madelyn was tired of being a little girl because one morning she woke up and decided to shed two major indicators of her youth: her pacifiers and her diapers. We had bought some underwear for her just in case and she even tried them on a few times; but it was clear she wasn't ready yet. But on August 3rd, just a few days before she was 2 1/2 years old, Maddy woke up and said she wanted to wear underwear and that she was "all done with diapers because I'm a big girl now." We went along with it thinking she'd have an accident sometime that morning and then not want to wear them again. Instead, she put them on and hasn't looked back since. She had the occasional accident in the first week if she was playing outside and misjudged how bad she had to go vs. how long it would take to get inside, but other than that she handled it like a champ and is in underwear all the time now. She even naps in them!

As if we weren't excited enough about saying goodbye to diapers (can't tell you how weird it is to not have diapers to change after four years of it) Madelyn rode the momentum of growing up right into the decision to ditch her pacis that same afternoon. This one was a little crazier because we were rushing around trying to get ready to go to Aunt Anna's senior recital when Madelyn grabbed her pacis out of her bed and said "I wanna give these to the babies. I a big girl now and don't need them. I wear underwear." Angie and I REALLY wanted to say no because we were in such a hurry to leave but we didn't know when she might give us such an easy out again so we jumped on it. We decided to do the same thing we did with Patrick and have her "send the pacis to the babies." After she sends them, the babies give her a little gift in return which, thankfully, always-10-steps-ahead-of-me Angie, had purchased a month earlier just in case.

Since we were so short on time, the whole ordeal was done very quickly. We decorated the envelope...

Dropped the pacis in the mailbox...

Then left for Anna's recital and happened to spot a gift from the babies on our way out. Needless to say, Tinkerbell attended the recital as well.

Chanting "Anna! Anna!" on their way into the recital while holding the flowers they picked out for her.

After the recital and celebrations we came back home for a movie night (also known as "keep Madelyn up late so she falls asleep easier without her pacifier). We watched her brand new Tinker Bell movie, put the kids down for the night and crossed our fingers. She did awesome that first night but we knew not to get our hopes up after doing this with Patrick. The next day we put the kids down for nap and braced ourselves for the endless crying and story telling of a heroic mailman who rescues the pacis from the babies. Amazingly, Madelyn just sang a song then went to sleep. That was it.

She really made the whole thing very easy on us. She barely even asked about her pacis in the beginning and by now seems to have almost completely forgotten about them. It takes her a little longer to go to sleep but she's always happy. She'll just lay in bed and talk and sing and hug her new Tinker Bell.

We're very proud of our big girl. She took on two pretty major milestones at once (especially the potty training) and conquered them both with no problem. Congratulations on being such a big girl Maddy! We love you!