Pacy Dog was created out of desperation and parenting genius (if I do say so myself). Big has always loved his pacy, from the time he was a newborn on up. We tried getting him to give it up, and tried, and tried. Nothing worked and it seemed the more we tried the more he fought it. At one point I vowed to just stop buying them, thinking that eventually we would lose them all and that would be that. But I swear that kid must have anticipated this and had been storing them in secret hiding places for months ahead of time. Pacifiers came out of nowhere, some of which I had not seen since he was a few months old. Anyways, all this to say that giving up the pacy wasn't easy and he used one for an embarrassingly long time.
Out of pure desperation Pacy Dog was born! We came up with the idea to take Big and his many pacys to Build-a-Bear, where he could pick out a new friend and stuff the pacys inside to be sealed away forever. Basically the pacifiers were reincarnated into a stuffed animal. It worked like a charm (minus a moment of panic in which he realized the pacys where stuck inside the dog and tried to rip him apart). Since then he and Pacy Dog have become very close. They go everywhere together. Big sleeps with his arm around Pacy Dog and asks for him when he is hurt or upset.
The problem is that Pacy Dog has become rather uppity lately. We have a bittersweet relationship, the dog and I. I will always be externally grateful for the role he has played in weaning Big from the pacifier. I love that he can be such a comfort to my child, and after all what's cuter than a little boy and his beloved stuffed animal? However, he can be pretty demanding from time to time. He often demands to sit at the breakfast table (all communication between he and I is conducted via Big of course), and he usually requires some sort of sustenance. As nature would have it, he eventually needs to go potty which requires setting him on the potty chair, waiting for him to do his thing and them wiping his bottom. Generally where we go, Pacy Dog goes and he usually requests to ride up front in the passenger seat. Apparently he likes the view.
Pacy Dog has become upset and angry with me on more than one occasion when I have not given Big what he wants. I have been told " Pacy Dog is very mad at you Mom cause you won't let me watch a show". And as much as Pacy Dog and I disagree on our parenting philosophy, he is actually very needy. He often needs to be held, rocked, or put to sleep. I am not entirely sure how all these duties became mine, but somehow Pacy Dog has become my third child. A third child that I am indebted to and completely reliant on to keep my first child happy. I guess being at the mercy of a stuffed dog is a small price to pay. I'll scratch his back if he'll scratch mine.
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