Well, I did not not realize today would be the day, but today was the day that Emily and her beloved paci parted ways. It seems that sometime this morning both of her pacifiers developed strange holes in them rendering them "broken." Initially, when nap time rolled around this afternoon, Emily was not all the bothered by their demise. Unfortunately when she woke up from nap, the water works began. Tons of tears. We talked a lot about how sad it is when something we love breaks, but then I told her about a magic place where she could take the broken pacifiers and trade them for a brand new stuffed friend. She wiped her tears and decided maybe that would be a good idea.
So off we went to Build a Bear Workshop. I thought we had one in Cary Towne Center, but when we got there I realized there was not. Unfortunately, Emily saw the carousel at that point and there was no turning back. So she got 2 rides on the carousel before we headed off to Crabtree Valley Mall's Build a Bear. Emily looked carefully at all the bears but finally settled on a Hello Kitty to build. Mommy and Daddy were both a little disappointed. We really wanted her to choose a bear. Oh well. Hello Kitty it was. She liked choosing her heart but did not like the stuffing machine - it was too loud and a little scary. Once Kitty was stuffed, Emily liked giving her a bath and choosing her clothes. She chose a Hello Kitty t-shirt and slippers. Very good choices. She also chose a little music box that goes in Hello Kitty's hand. We decided she could press it and make Hello Kitty sing whenever she was missing her paci.
Daniel and I were sure that when it came time for bed the tears would return, but to our great surprise, they did not. We even read "No More Pacifiers" and she seemed quite proud of herself that she, like the babies in the book, did not need a paci anymore. I put her in bed and told her goodnight. Still no tears, but I think I lost count of how many times she played Hello Kitty's music (Brahm's Lullaby). She has been in bed about 30 minutes...she is not sleeping yet, but she is also not crying. I hope in a couple of days, she won't even think about the beloved paci anymore. Fingers crossed...
