Look Ma, No Bear!

When Skyler was 2-months old, she rejected her pacifier. In fact, every time I put the pacifier in her mouth, she would cry loudly as if totally insulted. I jumped for joy that I wouldn't need to wean my child off her pacifier - she already did that herself!

But, my joy was short-lived because Skyler began taking to a little Winnie the Pooh bear that I put in the corner of her cot (for decoration...bah!). At first, I thought that it was so cute to see the bear next to her when I went in to check on her in the middle of the night. But before I knew it, Skyler's affection for her bear grew totally out of proportion. It became her replacement pacifier! She would suck and bite on the bear's nose, ears and paws. It was gross! She'd ask for her 'bear bear' whenever bedtime came around.


The poor bear had a bath once a week but no matter how often we washed it, we couldn't take away the smell of saliva - it literally stank like 'pooh'! Esmond even nicknamed it Winnie the "Shit".

When 1st March came around, I decided that it was time to wean Skyler off her bear. After all, she was already 19-months old. I braced myself for a week of Skyler screaming herself to sleep.

The first night, we went out late and she fell asleep on the way home so, no bear needed. Phew! In the morning, I sat her down and told her that there will be no more 'bear bear' because she was a big girl and didn't need her bear anymore. She didn't ask for her bear the entire day and that night, asked once but seemed to accept it when I told her that there's no more 'bear bear'.

The 2nd morning, she woke up, looked at me and said, "no more bear bear, Mommy". I didn't think that she understood me when I told her about her bear but, she did, she really did!

Yes, there are still those temper tantrums and yes, the 'terrible twos' still show up once in a while, but, it seems like our little girl is all grown up.