My friends, I need to vent and celebrate all at the same time.  I am mystified by my daughter, yet again.  The kid has had, what I would venture to say, a cocaine-like addiction to her pacifiers since birth.  We prefer to call them pacis around these parts.  She only gets them in her bed for naps and bedtime but she has been insistent on taking four to bed with her each time; compulsive I tell you.  She twirls them in her mouth, chews on them, swaps one out for another over and over as if they lost effectiveness. They are first thing she asks for when we take her into her room to read books before bed and the first thing she asks for in the morning when we go to get her out because they have found there way to the floor throughout the night.

I seriously have been thinking about how I am going to go about taking them away from her non-stop…even since she was tiny because it absolutely hurts my heart to think about taking away something she loves so much that is so comforting to her.  So, after her being at grandmas for the weekend while my husband and I attended a wedding in the beautiful mountains of Colorado, I decided (about 13 minutes before bedtime) that it might be a good time to try transitioning away from the crack pacis for her.

I am concerned.  Not for her, but for myself.  I feel as though some sort of karma may come back to get me in this life.  Want to know how it went?  After me seriously talking my husbands ear off about dreading when “this time comes” for the last 20 months?  Well, I clipped the ends off two of the pacis last night before bed and put all the others away.  She kept going back and forth between the two trying to figure out what the heck was wrong.  We talked about them being broken and how maybe it’s time to be a big girl and not use them and I put her in her bed with them.  She had a tough time settling in and cried for about five minutes and I went in there.  She stood up, put the pacis on the ledge of her crib and said “paci” and laid back down.  I rubbed her back for a minute and she went to sleep and did not wake up one time wanting them.  When I went in to get her this morning the first thing she said was “pacis” so I handed them to her.  She tried one and then asked to put them in the bowl we keep them in on her bookshelf.

Before her nap today she asked for them but I simply told her “lets try to be big girls and nap without paci’s today”…so I read her books and put her in her bed with no pacis in sight.  She played around for about 10 minutes and then fell asleep chewing on her blankie.  What?!  Is this child for real?  I understand that we have a ways to go but for the love of tomatoes will somebody please tell me why this kid makes my life so simple?  Every time I think we are going to have a challenge ahead of us she trucks right thru and pulls another rockstar move.  There is no way that human children are this easy to please, people.  I’m guessing this may come to bite me in the butt when she is 3?    But for now I am jumping up and down and praying that this transition stays as simple as it has been.  One lucky, proud mama over here.

Now you’re going to think I’m a total nutcase but these sprouts are how we are going to celebrate this evening:)  She LOVES them…and so does my husband.  They have such a great crisp, chewy, caramelized texture on the outside and are tender on the inside all while satisfying that sweet, salty craving I have far too often.  And not to worry about child neglect, I plan to take her for ice cream, too 🙂

Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprouts

adapted from this recipe

Ingredients

1 Pound Brussel Sprouts

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

3/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400, trim the brown ends off the sprouts and slice each one in half.  Lay sprouts on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic and season with salt and pepper.  Toss well with your hands to coat.  Roast in the oven for 25 minutes or until they are tender on the inside and crispy on the outside, stirring once halfway through.  Serve immediately.  Serves 3-4.