To soothe or not to soothe

From the very beginning, Cameron has loved his soother. It was definitely named appropriately. I don't even know how much money went into soothers, thanks to them getting lost or Cameron just sucking the life out of them.

I thought when he turned two that would be a good time to wean him. Two came way to quickly! And I wasn't ready yet. I heard all sorts of opinions on, he's too big and just cut the nipple etc. I think sometimes the soothers are more for the parents than the child. And in this case it was mutually beneficial. I dreaded the day that I would have to wean him. I rationalized at two that a new baby was coming who would have a soother and Cameron wouldn't understand why Tommy gets one and he doesn't. So I let it be. However since 18months I only let him have it at bedtime. No harm in that right? I didn't think so. But right after Tommy was born, I was too tired to really enforce my own rules and things slipped. Cameron was sucking his soother the better part of the day. He also chewed on them which decreased their lifespan by a lot. So I would have to throw them out. So back to the store to buy more. He was also becoming more whiny and dependent on them. The brand that I bought came in packs of two, one blue one green. For some reason Cameron favoured the blue ones. Two weeks ago we were down to 2 green and 1 blue and he had just chewed his way through the blue one so I had to throw it out. He reluctantly took the green. I guess green is better than no soother. The next night he cried for his blue soother, and refused the green. He fell asleep clutching the green one in his hand. The same the next two nights. And after that it sat on his night stand and the 2 remaining green soothers have been there ever since.

He doesn't ask for them any more and he's actually going to bed better (but that could be because he's decided to give up naps and is dog tired by the time evening rolls around. But that's a whole other story).

We've been soother free for two weeks with no fighting involved. This is what I win/win!