gone are all the little pacifiers

i've been thinking i need to get rid of Ian's pacifier usage for a few months now. i already got rid of it during the day. he even liked the idea of taking the clip off his shirt when he'd wake up. he would disconnect it or i would and he'd throw it down hard on the mattress and yell "yey!" i finally set a date to take it away all together. i decided we would not give it to him anymore when he turned 20 months on May 28th. the day before that date, i told Joel about my plan, b/c i'd convinced myself it was time and i wanted backup. Joel thought we should just start that day for nap and see how it went, so that's what we did. it was May 27th.
he did fine. even with whining and wimpering, it wasn't an all-out disaster. then we continued to put him to bed for the night and naps without his beloved pacifier and when he'd whine, we'd just tell him to go to sleep, and he could and did after a little more whiney arguing.
every day it's getting better, he falls asleep easier without it. i almost feel like it's similar to potty training Zeke. he got the idea pretty fast after switching him to underwear during the day. it only took three days for him to go pee-accident-free. and so it is with Ian, most of the complaining about having to go to sleep is gone now. he's almost used to sleeping without the pacifier.
the interesting part is that i thought Ian might just make the decision that he didn't need it anymore. that's how it happened with Zeke. after i took Zeke's away for the day, i started every night asking him if he wanted his pacifier and he'd always say yes. then one night, maybe a month later, he said no. so that was that and he was done. i didn't hear whether he cried about it though, i turned my music on after i closed his door, checked on him fifteen minutes later, and all was quiet. even during the following naps and nights he didn't ever seem to want it again. i think i might remember a little bit of lessened sleep, but not too significant.
Ian's day use was discontinued earlier in his life than Zeke's was, by a little, two months. Zeke was 19 months and Ian was 17 months when we quit day use. then the night and nap use was discontinued at about the same age, 20 months.
Ian tends to sleep a little less without the pacifier, waking earlier in the morning and his naps might even be an hour shorter. i'm sure that will pass with time. we're a pacifier-free family again :D

here's the link to when i blogged about getting rid of the pacifier with Zeke
http://joelandlizharris.blogspot.com/2007/07/86d-pacifier.html