Tilly and the tale of how Penny does what she wants.

A while back I posted a blog about the epic failure that was removing my toddlers paci “Tilly”.  It was the literal worst.  Ever.

Fast forward to a week before our birthday vacation.  Not even a week, I think it was 2 days before we were going to be out of town for a week and 3 of those nights would be spent at my dads house with out me and Brett.  On this fateful day, Penny bit right through her beloved Tilly and the tip of it just fell right off.

Ready…Set…PANIC!

We had a leftover paci shoved in a drawer and decided to try and hand that one over to her.  Rejected.  “No thanks,” Penny said as she handed the not Tilly back to us.

More PANIC!

This lead us to going to babies r us and purchasing a new wubanub.  We did the whole switch-a-roo of cutting off the stuffed animal part and pretending it was just like her old tilly.  We went into her room and handed the “Tilly” over.  She put it in her mouth for not even a second and looked at us like we were crazy…”no thanks.”.

We were so worried about the weekend at her grandparents house and you know what.  She slept like a freakin champ.  She’s holding “Tilly” in her hand while she falls asleep, but she doesnt even try to use it anymore.  It does take her a lot longer to relax and get to sleep, some nights she talks to herself for almost an hour before passing out, but for the most part she’s totally chill about it.  Which got me to thinking…

What a little jerk face!

Why!? Why was it so traumatizing the first time around.  If it was this simple this time, why did we have to go through the screaming, crying, certifiably crazy antics, before?

You really cannot force your kid to do anything!

Don’t get me wrong…I discipline.  I definitely feel like the mean mom on the block a lot, because I don’t let Penny get away with a whole lot.  Not too crazy, just your standard…no tantrums, no hitting, share, be nice, talk nice…sorta thing.  But we tried to force her out of a stage that she clearly was not ready for.  Honestly the ball was in her court.  She had Tilly, she broke Tilly, and no other paci compares, so no other Tilly is needed.

I honestly should have known this would be the way things would go.  We used to joke that Penny sleep trained herself.  The girl hates being rocked or cuddled too much and the only way to get her to sleep was to leave her alone.

I’m sure this is just one of the instances in her life where I will learn, that letting her be is sometimes the best way to get results.  Let her figure it out.  Which brings me to the next step of potty training.  I definitely not going to push it, but I’m subtly saying things like “If you want to use the potty tell me.”  She’s started pooping in her diaper (I know, kids are so gross) and then saying “mama, I use the potty now!”.  To which I reply, “You already went poopoo in your diaper, but next time if you feel like you have to go tell mommy and we’ll go the potty.” She usually responds with a very enthusiastic, “OKAY! YES! I use the potty!”

I guess this is just a tale of how I tried it my way and it completely failed, and then Penny just naturally decided it was done for and it worked great.  Kids.  Man, they are tricky business.  If you are trying to teach them something new (no paci, new bed, potty training) and you are losing your mind doing it, I want to encourage you to take a break.  Step back for a minute and catch your breath, get things normal again and when it feels natural and good…take another shot!  Theres no shame in trying again another time.  Cuz, your kid could break their paci on their own and decide its no biggie.   …Ridiculous.