"The doctor said no more wawow."

Last week Angeli, Bridger, and Benjamin had a dentist appointment. It was with a new dentist. One I like much better then our old one. Our old dentist assured me that Angeli's teeth were not being affected by her pacifier. So I haven't really made it a priority to have her get rid of her pacifier habit. But this new dentist, who is a lot more on top of it, told me that her teeth were very much affected by her pacifier, to the point of affecting her speech. When Stewart got home I told him the news. He has been pushing for her to get rid of it but I wanted to let her keep it until we survived him being gone, our Thanksgiving and winter trips, and until she gets more used to her toddler bed. BUT with this in the equation we both knew we had to bite the bullet and talk to her about giving it up. Stewart sat down with her and explained what the dentist said about her pacifier making her teeth grow in wrong and making her mouth not work correctly. She sat there for a moment taking it in. Then she looked at me very seriously with so much sadness in her eyes and said, "Mommy, the doctor said no more wawow?" (wawow at our house is the same as binkie in other homes) Then she said it again very sadly; she was about to cry. I said "Yes, honey. The dentist said it is hurting your teeth." Then she just kept repeating that same phrase over and over again, "doctor said no more wawow". Each time she said it she became less and less sad to the point that she was becoming very serious about it. Finally she exclaimed waving her finger in the air, "THE DOCTOR SAID NO MORE WAWOW!" and that was that. She has not touched one since.

Yesterday she had a hard day. She has been waking up every night and not been able to take naps without it. She was crying and so exhausted. I tried to give it to her so she could take a nap but she said, "the doctor said no more wawow Mommy!" Later she came up to me crying once again so tired out and said, " I want my wawow." I told her that it hurt her teeth and she said, "Yeah, the doctor said no more wawow." and closed her wawow drawer all by herself.

It is so impressive to me to see just how determined she is. It is hard for her to give it up but she is choosing the greater good no matter how hard it is for her right now. How very mature of her. I think we have a very determined, smart, strong girl on our hands. What a blessing she is in our home.