No More Dummies!

I have been thinking about loosing Fräulein's pacifiers for quite some time. You might remember, how I asked your opinion about it one year ago. She was only using them when sleeping, but I did not have the energy nor the strength to take them away.

Pacifiers are not good for a child's teeth and might affect the occlusion. In Finland, it is recommended that when a child is one year old, she should use a pacifier only when sleeping. And when the child turns two years old, the pacifiers should go for good. I'm not sure if there are any recommendations here in Germany regarding the pacifiers, but I often see four-year-olds using one...

After Fräulein turned two, the birth of her little sister came closer. As the pacifiers where very comforting for Fräulein, I thought it would not be the best time for something that felt so radical.

This January, when my mother was visiting us, we finally decided to get rid of the pacifiers. Fräulein packed all her dummies to a plastic bag and we took the bag to our front door so that a cat could pick them up and take them to her kittens.

A half an hour later we went back downstairs and found out that the cat had taken the dummies and left Little My from the Moomins as a present for Fräulein! What a coincidence that Little My is Fräulein's favorite character. ;)

Both German and Finnish children's culture present:
Kikaninchen and Little My

Sleeping without the pacifier went relatively smoothly. Fräulein asked for them a couple of times, but when she was reminded that the cat had taken them and given her the Little My, she was happy with it.

The following Monday I told to her Krippe teachers that we had lost the pacifiers, but I guess there was some kind of miscommunication, because a few days later I noticed she had used a pacifier while taking her nap.

Before our trip to Finland, I talked with the Krippe teachers again and we agreed that the pacifier would get lost during our three week holiday. So, yesterday was the first day she took her nap in the Krippe without the pacifier. Yay!

No more dummies for Fräulein!

Silent Sunday
August 19, 2012

*****
Vähän myöhässä suomalaisista suosituksissa hankkiuduimme vihdoin tammikuussa eroon Fräuleinin tuteista. Veimme ne muovipussissa ulko-ovelle, mistä kissa kävi hakemassa ne poikasilleen. Vastalahjaksi kissa oli jättänyt Pikku Myy -pehmolelun!

Nukkuminen ilman tuttia sujui yllättävän helposti. Mutta kielimuurin takia en onnistunut selittämään päiväkodin työntekijöille tilannetta, joten tutti oli käytössä vielä päiväkotipäikkäreiden aikana. Nyt Suomi-loman aikana tuokin tutti oli "mennyt hukkaan", joten nyt tässä huushollissa on tutti vain vauvalla!