We’re So Lucky!

There are many reasons for which I am grateful to have Drew for my husband and for which the boys are so lucky to have him as their father. 

One of the big things – which might not seem like much to the outside observer – is that he is a risk taker. 

I am not. 

There has been many a time when he has gone ahead with some bold move, sometimes not telling me – lest he disrupt his Nervous Nelly wife – and far and away most of the time it turns out just swimmingly. 

Take last weekend for example.  While I was at a baby shower, he put Benjamin down for his nap without his pacifier.  (He had tried this earlier in the week, and it hadn’t gone well, so he aborted that mission.  Benjamin wasn’t ready for the big push, and we wanted an evening of relative quiet for conversation.)  I’m told there was protesting by the wee one, but he did fall asleep after tears shed.  Ditto at bedtime.  Protesting.  Crying.  Eventually sleep.

Then on Sunday morning when Benj awoke from his morning nap SO upset, and SO wanting to be pacified, and SO NOT happy to just be in mommy’s arms – what was I to do?  I couldn’t give in after what Drew had established.  So he cried … for a while.  And he flailed, and he moaned and he reached for pacifiers in view (that was unkind of us to have them there.)  And then something distracted him long enough (something Jasper did I think) that he stopped.  And there’s been nary a pacifier since. 

You might think, “what? a pacifier? … really?  like it was that hard?” 

“have you children?”  I might ask. 

“have you any habits that are hard to break?” 

“have you so wanted peace and quiet after a morning of complete chaos* that a pacifier looks like heaven to you, too?”  (*think whack-a-mole, and that might paint a picture of what motherhood of two young toddler boys is like.)

So that’s where I was.  Totally wanting Benjamin to kick the pacifier, but totally NOT wanting to endure the perceived pain of getting him to kick it.  I didn’t know he could be a rock star in this area if I could just get over my fear to try.  (Jasper never took a pacifier.  Ever.  I didn’t go through this with him.  I had nothing to go on.) 

So, how nice was it that in less than two days my husband, brave and bold man that he is, took charge and led his youngest out of the last vestiges of infancy into toddlerhood? 

Pretty awesome.  We’re so lucky!