Happy Purim!

Today Tali had a Purim parade at school. Each child in her class was instructed to dress up like a character from the story. Of course, all of the girls (except one) chose to dress as a princess. Depending on when you asked her, Tali was either Vashti or Esther. She couldn't make up her mind.

 

When Eli saw her putting on her crown before we left for school, he insisted on wearing one too. He picked out the ONE crown with writing - it says "Princess." He refused to take it off until the parade was over. It was very funny to see a little boy in a flannel-style shirt and bomber jacket wearing a princess crown.

The parade at school is simply a short walk from one building to another. All of the moms line up with their iPhones to take pictures or video. It's a ridiculous parade but the kids love it. Tali was so excited for it that she talked about it for a week. When she was marching, Tali was so happy to see Eli that she just had to greet him. Eli took that as his cue to join her class on their march into the other building. I'm sure some parents ended up with a picture or two of the back of my head as I chased after Eli. (Sorry!)

Hope your Purim was as eventful as ours!

Ooops...There Go the Pacifiers

So long, pacifiers. You did your job well but it's time to move on.

So by accident, we stopped giving Eli a pacifier yesterday. It was coming soon (two weeks from now, actually), but it wasn't supposed to happen yesterday.

I was at Tali's OT?PT therapy gym when I got a text from Eli's babysitter asking where the pacifiers were. I'd put them all in the steam bag to clean, not realizing there weren't any more in his room. Since she knew I was planning to get rid of it soon, she thought I'd started without telling her. Luckily, he went down for his nap pretty easily. She said he was asking for it, but was mostly okay that he didn't get it. Because of that, H and I decided to go ahead with it and get rid of them for good.

That night was not as fun. He screamed (and I mean screamed) for 45 minutes before finally falling asleep. I learned early the next morning that not only did he not fall asleep with his pacifier, but he was also without his security blanket. He'd thrown it out of the crib in anger during his 45 minute scream. But, he did it. He slept through the night without it.

So we continued. Today the babysitter said he was okay at nap time. Thinking we were through the worst of it, I put him to bed without a peep. But five minutes later it started. This time it was only for 15 minutes and I think he still has his blanket. Tonight, I'm throwing them all in the garbage. It's a bit bittersweet for me. They were a great comfort to him and he's my baby. This is the last time I'll be throwing away pacifiers. Sad.

I'm sorry, Eli. But it's time for them to go. You're growing up (too quickly).