Niabi Zoo

May 2010, originally uploaded by James Hemsley.

James and I decided it was finally time to get rid of Norah's pacifiers (nuks). Yes, she STILL was using a nuk for sleeping until just recently. We got the idea from my mom to bring her to a fun place and leave have HER leave the nuks there at that place. Then, she knows they are gone, and she knows it was her doing, and she should (in theory) get over it more quickly.

So, we set a date for Saturday, the 1st of May to go to Niabi Zoo and give the nuks to the animals at the zoo. Whenever we would bring it up before the date, she would say, "That's so silly (siyi)! Animals don't need nuks!" But, she went along with it and was very excited when the big day actually came.

We had had 70 degree sunny days leading up to May 1st, but on May 1st, it was 43 degrees, windy and cloudy. We couldn't back down. We had to go regardless. That is why Norah and James are so bundled up in the photo. So, we walked around the zoo, saw all the animals that they allowed outside in the COLD weather, and then I hunted down a worker while James distracted Norah. I asked the worker to play along and accept the baggie of nuks, and could she also ask which animals they were for? The worker was happy to help, and Norah sadly gave her nuks to the worker, specifying they were for the wolves, the yamas (llamas), elephants, baby giraffes, and zebras. We left the zoo, and prepared to spend the next few days struggling with Norah over sleeping.

When we got home, she barely asked about them! She asked if we could go back and get them, but we said, No, we couldn't. She was fine with that.

Aftermath: shorter (or non-existent) naps, and she wakes up at the crack of dawn shouting "The sun is awake! Let's have breakfast!" I can live with that!