But I NEEEEEED it.

To put it simply, I have a loquacious daughter.

We have a bit of a tradition, lately at night that ended last night, but I'll get to that in a minute. It goes like this:
(Me, laying Little Miss in bed, gives her the pipe (pacifier for those not familar w/ the term pipe))
LM: What would daddy say? (The line a routinely use when she tries to take it out of the crib with her)
Me: Daddy says it's okay only for sleeping (celebrating that for ONCE daddy is the semi-bad guy)
LM: BUT I NEEEEEEEEEEED IT!!
Every night, the same saga unfolds.

Well, I've decided that since she is chattering like a five year old (I want to go in the hot tub RIGHT NOW! etc every comment out of her mouth ends with RIGHT NOW, I want milk RIGHT NOW, I want to play dolly downstairs RIGHT NOW, I'm working on at least a "please" but it doesn't look good) it is probably time for her to give up the pipe. Not that I wanted to, it's bittersweet, really. I'm not much for sentiment, but leaving the pipe behind marks leaving babyhood behind. While I relish the fact of bringing baby crap with me every time I leave the house, and I enjoy being past the making baby food stage or the 3am feeding stage, I do understand that it is sad when the baby is no longer a baby. Hubby's answer to this is "well, have another one. But I'm not going to help you with it; it will be your problem." What, because you get up during the night now?

I digress.

The point is, I could have 100 other children, and it would still be sad when the last one leaves the pipe behind....and that's no reason to have #101. We can't make time stop, all we can do is enjoy the moments and try to make a memory or two. So, yesterday we got dolly a potty at Target. Killing two birds with one stone, I might add. Giving excitment to the potty training that we're working on AND she decided at 7:05pm last night to trade her pipes to dad for dolly's potty. Of course, Hubby being a softy when it comes to his princess, promptly hid the pipes in my sock drawer. I told him "once we take them away, it's done, there is no going back. If we cave once, we'll never get past the hump" but he just couldn't throw them in the garbage...SOFTY!! I made Buddy throw his away himself. I think it was more so that I wouldn't go grabbing them out of the trash in the middle of the night, though, but it was a good method of both of us. So, Little Miss went to bed without even ASKING about the pipe. But, I could tell she missed it. We both had to go down because she was crying about 4 times before she finally fell asleep. It was a good soother. I know she lays in bed for at least an hour many nights, and the pipe clamed her...now all she has is tags on her blankets. The middle of the night was hard too. But the worst was nap time. Little Miss is my champion napper: down at 12:30 w/o a squeek. Routinely gives me 3 hours. Today, however, I was treated with 45 minutes of crying. I wanted to grab those puppies out of the sock drawer and say "I take it back! You're still a baby!!" But why come this far to throw in the towel? Not worth it. So I sucked it up, told her she was doing a great job and was such a big girl and helped her find her tags. I feel bad for her though, so that probably explains why I let her sleep by me this morning at 5am...that and I was dead tired! Battles of will w/ my daughter are best fought w/ a full night of sleep.

Those who know me would understand that I'm somewhat of a routine gal (I hear my mom laughing already). Okay, I'm REALLY a routine gal. We do the same things on the same days etc etc etc. My kids also love routines. One of our favorites is after Hubby reads the Bible story book at dinner. He pauses at the end of the lesson to which Buddy yells out "QUESTION TIME!" then, w/o missing a beat, Buddy counts '1,2,3' and we all have to say "question time". Then, Hubby is instructed to count for Little Miss who responds with "Question time" to which Buddy says, without fail, to Little Miss "I KNEW you would say it!" Then we ask the questions. It's just one of the great traditions/routines/whatever around our house. There is calm in the repetition and knowing what to expect.

So, hopefully night two will go better than night one. If not, I might take a hit off a pipe in the sock drawer. It's hard to admit, but a month away from her second birthday, she's really not a baby anymore. Without a pipe, can you believe it?