That was easier than I expected....

Camy still takes a paci. She calls it her "bop".
She's been calling it that for as long as I remember, and I have no idea how that name came about.

Initially I said "No more paci at 6 months".
That didn't happen. Cuz I'm a wimp.
Then it was "For real this time, no more bop at a year".
Again, wimp.
My proclamation evolved to "Well, maybe at 18 months, we can ditch it."
But then, she was starting preschool at 18 months and I didn't want to change too much, too fast.
Oddly enough, after just a few weeks at school, she stopped asking her teachers for her bop at naptime (the only time she had it at school).
So the bops all came home.
The only time she really uses them at home are when she's hurt, or when she's going to bed. And when she is in the car with me, we can hardly back out of the driveway before she's saying "bop? bop? peease? bop?".
So, I have now been saying, with much determination, that at her second birthday, the bop must go.

That's 27 days away.
So today, I thought I'd do a little Drop-The-Bop Experiment.
No bop at nap today.
We ate our lunch.
We washed our hands.
We got a sippy of milk.
We found Baby and Baby's bottle.
We walked to her room, climbed into her bed.
We read "I Love You Through and Through". And we read it again.
She gave her baby a bottle while she drank her sippy.
She laid down and asked for her bop.
I said "Camy, you're a big girl. Let's take a nap, okay?"
She calmly said, "Bop?"
"Not right now Camy, we're going to take a nap. Do you want to hold my hand?"
Camy got a little teary at that point, the corners of her mouth turned downward, and she softly repeated "bop?".
I reminded her that she's a big girl, we can take our nap without a bop, and again offered to hold her hand (which she loooves).
This time she sadly, tearfully asked to "read more book?"
I obliged. We read "I Love You Through and Through" for the third time.
She asked for her bop yet again.. and when I softly said "No baby, let's take a nap." she rolled to face away from me, asked for my hand, and whimpered quietly. It broke my heart.
I could tell she was starting to drift off, but every couple minutes she would quietly say "my bop.." and doze again. It took her less than 10 minutes to fall asleep.. without her bop.

I feel like maybe I went about this the wrong way. We didn't talk about it all.. I just suddenly was saying "no" when she wanted it. I am really surprised that she fell asleep so easily, I had been prepping myself for full on hysterics. I thought for sure she'd try to climb out of her bed to get her darn bop herself, but she didn't. She just laid there, broken-hearted and cried a little while asking again and again for her bop, I'm sure she was hoping each time that my answer would change.
I don't know how tonight will go, but I guess now I have to follow this through, huh?
What was I thinking?
My poor, sweet girl loved that bop so.
But, I have always shuddered a little whenever I would see a toddler talking through a pacifier, and I don't want my child to do the same. She's becoming so verbal and so independent that a pacifier just doesn't fit into this picture anymore. She's not a baby anymore.. she's a big girl. Saying that makes me want to cry a little and ask for the bop myself...  I mean, where did my baby go?

Guess now I better go on a Bop Hunt to make sure there aren't any tucked into random corners or play bins or hiding under her bed.. we don't need anything sabotaging our efforts here.

Oh I hope tonight goes just as well... or better.
:fingers crossed: