A few of my favorite words & no paci!

It is so fun to listen to Madelyn and Jack talk.  Madelyn is such a good big sister and lately she has been teaching Jack new words.  This was a lifesaver on our trip home from Des Moines.  Whenever Jack would get fussy Madelyn would say "Jack, say the word BIKE for Daddy" and Jack would say "bike".  You can tell what's on Madelyn's mind these days - she loves biking! :)

Here are a few of the words Jack says these days:

Bike, baby, thank you, bye bye daddy (we say this when we pass Ryan on his bike on our way to daycare), go gurt, grandpa, papa, balloon, bubbles, water, mama, dada.  We are trying to teach him Madelyn.  We can tell what he's trying to say but others probably wouldn't understand.  This past week he learned Jack and he says it so proud and points to himself.

Some of my favorites that Madelyn says these days: 

sunscream (sunscrean), tatoon (tattoo), tator tot (teeter totter), jolla bean (jelly bean), what in the heck and union (reunion) - she has asked quite a few times to go back to the union so she had a great time there! 

Ice cream is way better than a paci!

The biggest news around the house these days is that Jack no longer takes a paci!!!  We had started cutting back during the days but he still needed it at nap & bedtime.  At daycare they put him down a few times at nap without the paci and he did fine.  I knew it wouldn't be that easy at home because he has been sooooo attached to his paci.  

A week ago (6/22)  Ryan was getting Jack ready for bed and reading him a story.  He didn't have his paci.  Usually by this time Jack has his paci as he needs it to calm down at night.  I decided to give it a try and see what happened.  I rocked Jack and he immediately started frantically looking for his paci.  I tried to just keep snuggling him and he eventually calmed down.  You could tell he was wondering where it was and why he didn't have it.  I put him down, he cried but only for a little bit and then he went to sleep……and slept all night!  

I started wondering what I was doing since we were going to Des Moines the following next weekend and the paci would definitely come in handy as we were trying to put him to bed in an unfamiliar environment.  I figured if we could make it for a week without it, there was no going back…..so we would just see how things went.  Later that night (on Sunday) I was just sick to my stomach and I felt so bad taking away the one thing that Jack loved and that comforted him.  I knew the first few nights would be the hardest.  The next few nights Jack went looking for his paci and I said "all gone" and he would give me the confused look but say "all gone" in his cute little voice.  He hasn't had it since and he's doing great!