Just being a toddler And Paci-Fairies

Sweet girl loves her scooter!

What a precious smile!

Rachel and Bradley are extremely different in many ways. For one thing, they have very different temperaments. Rachel is very easy going and agreeable and somewhat reasonable for an almost 4 year old. She's always been pretty agreeable and distractable. We didn't really realize just how reasonable she was until we had Bradley. He's precious and sweet and can be extremely easy going, but he can also be completely unreasonable...meaning if he's got one thing on his mind, that's it. There's no changing it and he's going to keep reminding you of it until he feels satisfied that he got his way. I think just because he isn't as agreeable as Rachel has always been doesn't mean he's completely unreasonable, but that he does have a very strong will. He's also got the disadvantage of being the second child. I know darn well that Rachel got to do just about whatever she wanted (within reason) because we didn't have to consider another child. Of course, things are much different for Bradley since he has an older sister and things don't solely revolve around him and his wants like they did for Rachel. I try to remind myself of all these different variables when I start to think that Bradley's being unreasonable. Because, that's really not fair to him. He's such a sweet, lovey, huggy, silly boy and I love him dearly.

Rachel will be 4 in May and unfortunately, we have allowed her to have her pa-pa (pacifier) this entire time. She only uses it at night to help her go to sleep and it is not allowed out of her room, nor does she even ask for it at other times, but still that's pretty silly considering her age. However, I take sole responsibility for this. Nick has asked for us to get her off the pa-pa for a long time and I've been too scared (and lazy) to tackle it. I know I'm not giving her enough credit because she's an extremely bright, content, precious child and I know she can do it if we ask her to. I haven't wanted to do it because I couldn't think of a good way to go about doing it. But, just the other day, I caught a few minutes of Supernanny. I think Nanny Jo has some really good ideas and techniques that are simple and successful. Anyway, she had a family whose 3 year old still had a pa-pa and she suggested a "Paci-Fairy" who you gave all your paci's to in an envelope and then she left you a prize in return. I thought it sounded ingenius and worth a shot. So, tonight I was reading to Rachel and had not given her a pa-pa and it was almost time for me to turn out the light. She remembered and asked where it was. I told her that she didn't need it and she, getting choked up, said "I do need it". So, I said, "well, if you want to sleep without it tonight, the "pa-pa fairy" will take your pa-pa's and give them to babies who don't have any and she'll leave you a prize." Well, this excited Rachel and she was giddy thinking about what prize the pa-pa fairy would leave her. I was secretly excited too, thinking about how I could sneak in there tonight and leave her a couple of small items that Rachel's never seen and would be "paci-fairy" worthy. So, I was singing Rachel her last 2 songs and she said, "mom, (REALLY choked up), I not ready to get my prize from the "pa-pa fairy" tonight, I'll do it tomorrow." So, I said, "it's okay sweetie, we'll do it tomorrow night" and she went to sleep with her pa-pa.


Oh well! I know we can do it, but I think it'll take a little more "talking up" and her actually putting her pa-pa's in an envelope for the paci-fairy so she doesn't have them there next to her bed for an easy grab. So, I'll let you know how it all turns out...as soon as we're successful!


Until then, I'll allow Rachel to use her little pa-pa and feel comfortable until she's ready to send it to other babies. (She did inquire whether or not her pa-pa would go to JuJu's baby or not, which I assured her it would.) She's the sweetest, little doll and I love her dearly!!!