Rest in Peace Purple Paci

We knew we were going to let Olivia have a paci.  It's recommended by the AAP for the first year.  Going into it, I had read that babies can be picky.  We bought a few, were gifted a few, and were given a few unused ones by a friend.  Needless to say, we have a bucket full of pacifiers.  At first we just used the hospital paci.  We also used the wubbanub because it had a similar nipple.  She would take them, but wasn't loving them.  At a random trip to Target, I grabbed a pack of pacifiers that were latex as opposed to silicone.  It said for ages 0 to 24 months.  We gave it to her while still using other ones.  When my mom was here she said that it seemed Olivia really liked the purple one.  Once she mentioned it, we noticed the same thing.  It sort of just became her go to paci.

(July 13th)

She loved that paci and it ended up being the ONLY one she would take.

She did this funny little thing with it since the beginning.

She would flip it sideways.  Sometimes you'd put it in her mouth and she would do a quick flip and make it touch her nose.  Sometimes it would be a gradual shift.  I tried and tried to get it on video.  It was hysterical.  The number of people who tried to turn it was CRAZY!  My boss... people at life group... people at Tae Kwon Do... nursery workers... more than half the people she came in contact with at Thanksgiving... They would either try to turn it, or tell me "Her paci is sideways".  Then I would have to explain that she liked it that way.  I have no idea why.  Sometimes it would even make her nose temporarily red.  The only thing I could come up with was that she liked it hitting her nose because it was sort of like breastfeeding?!?!

I wasn't worried about her having only one paci.  It was a two pack and I carried the back up in my diaper bag.  Then one day we were talking with our friends about it.  I went to get it out and noticed...

the nipples were two different sizes!!!

What?  I had no idea.  Why would I have chosen the larger nipple when she was only a week and a half old?  This still baffles me.

So I shrugged it off and went off looking for a replacement.

I could not find one anywhere.  I looked at Target where I had originally got it.  Nope.

I looked at every grocery store, convenient store, and online.

I even went to the Playtex website.  All I could find were the smaller nipple ones.

I casually started looking until right around Thanksgiving.  The plastic around the outside started ripping.  I tried to switch her paci to a different one then but she was NOT having it.  So... I tore off the plastic edging.

I almost sent out an APB for all of you to look for one for me.

I'm still not convinced that we didn't end up with some sort of factory defect.

Then, the unthinkable happened

...on Christmas Day no less.

So I went to the bucket.  We had tried all the ones we had over and over before.

I started giving the ones we had and one by one she'd make faces and spit them out.

Then, by the grace of God, she took one!

It's a MAM 6 months plus one.  It was one of the biggest nipples we had.

It's not nearly as big as her old one, but she's taking it and that is all we care about.

Plus, it's so much prettier.  I've already purchased more for back up.  They come in multiple colors.  Bonus: Now people won't give us the side eye for the ginormous nipple.  I am going to miss her paci flipping though. :)