My sweet boy. My Lucas León. Three years ago at 9:50 am you changed me forever. You made me a mom, a mother, and I am forever grateful that God chose you for me. Me for you. You have taught me patience (just ask your father), empathy, and how to be a better person. You are always teaching me. Your laughter is contagious and you are wild, adventurous, and such a free spirit. Your papi and I are the luckiest parents on Earth and we hope you know just how much we love you. Forever and ever my love.
For those who know Lucas or follow us on Instagram, you KNOW how much Lucas loves his pacifier. Lucas weened himself off the boob at exactly a year and before then had little to no interest in any kind of soother other than mama. I mistakenly continued to try and give him the pacifier after we finished breast feeding and the love affair with his bobo quickly commenced. I look back and seriously don’t know what I was thinking or why (whyyyy) nobody tried to stop me. For 2 long years Lucas has been fiercely attached to the thing. The type of addiction that causes you to break out in a sweat when your child starts screaming for his bobo and you check all your pockets, dump out your bag and realize it’s nowhere to be found. Then you find yourself running into the nearest Duane Reade or bodega making yet another pacifier purchase (to add to the hundreds more you have strewn all over the house). Yes. It’s really that serious. The funny thing is that he wouldn’t ask for it during school hours. He would go the entire day without it (including nap time which is huge!) until he laid eyes on me at pick up. Within seconds of leaving the classroom I knew what he was going to ask for and I always came prepared with a spare bobo in my bag.
The last few weeks I found myself growing increasingly frustrated with the situation. I tried explaining to him that he was a big boy and pacifiers are for babies. Our conversations would go something like this:
Are you a big boy Lucas?
Yes!
Big boys don’t need bobos.
Then I’m a baby!
I vented. I text friends. I complained. But in reality I was doing nothing to break the pacifier habit. The only thing I had done was stop buying new ones. He was down to his last four and I refused to spend another dollar on the enemy. We started taking baby steps and were able to get him to leave the bobo at home for our “adventures”. He started telling us “the people don’t like the bobo” and he’d leave it in a safe spot before we would leave the house. Next baby step was no bobo while he awake and playing. The bobo was only for sleeping. So for a few days when he would wake up in the morning or after a nap we’d ask him to give us the pacifiers (plural because he slept with three of them at a time..) and he was surprisingly pretty chill about it.
Fast forward to Wednesday when he slept over his nana’s house. I get a call at about 10pm and I could hear Lucas crying in the background. My mom has called to inform me that she has refused to give Lucas his pacifier and if Ivan and I were willing to stick this through she would sacrifice her sleep for the night. Well thanks mom for putting the parentals to shame. And seriously thanks mom for being a FUCKING ALL STAR. The second night was rough. He screamed, his body was shaking, and I seriously debated sticking a pacifier in his mouth and making it all stop. It is just awful knowing your child needs something that you could easily give them. But 30 minutes of singing lullabies, rocking him, and whispering it was going to be ok (I think I was whispering this to myself at this point) he fell asleep. The next two days got progressively better. He ONLY asked for the bobo right before nap and bed time and fell asleep relatively quick.
So there ya have it. Almost one week later and we are pacifier free! HURRAH! I would say three days is the magic number here. If you can make it to the three day mark the rest of the week is cake. The hardest part for me was knowing how much Lucas wanted his pacifier when he asked and standing my ground. Ivan and both made sure we were firm but gentle and compassionate when saying no. We wanted to make sure he knew how proud we were of him! My apologies for this being so. so. long but I was terrified and I seriously thought my kid was going to head off to middle school with a pacifier in his mouth. I really hope this helps even one other mama out there with a child riddled with a paci addiction and seriously – you can do it! I truly thought I’d never see the day where Lucas would be paci free but here we are. About to be three and truly a big boy!
That bed head. Your raspy, morning voice. The light flooding our living room. The way you request your leche. The way you refuse to drink it out of any bottle except your purple one that really should be thrown away. The grasp you have on all three of your bobos (pacis). Those cheeks that are covered in dried toddler drool. Those cheeks I could kiss over and over. The warmth of your hugs. The way you request “paaaaaw patrol mama”.
The terrible two’s really do exist (or maybe I want to forget this one..who knows..). Lucas is fiery and wears every emotion on his sleeve. He has taken to screaming at Ivan and I quite ferrociously when things don’t go his way. I have quickly learned to stay calm when these screaming fits happen and sit him in a time out. He is fully capable of understanding why he is in time out and we talk about what he did wrong when he’s allowed to get up. Then we exchange a hug and kiss and all is well in the world. But seriously, it’s kind of mind blowing how much we are able to communicate with Lucas.
Just how loving he is. Lucas has always been affectionate and continues to dish out kisses like nobodies business. The way he murmurs “okkkkkk mommyyyy” and “I loveeee youuuu” makes me melt into a mom puddle.
The wit on this boy! He is the ultimate ham and knows just how to bat those lashes or crack a joke to lighten the mood. His giggle could cure the worst case of the blues.
Solo play. This month he has taken to playing on his own for long periods of time which he has never done before. He sits in his room and creates scenarios with his Ninja Turtles – voices and all. He’s becoming so independent and it terrifies me yet makes me so incredibly proud.
He has been an incredibly picky eater for a while now. These days he’s all about hot dogs and chicken nuggets. I have successfully been able to trick into thinking ALL chicken is “nuggets” and am constantly cooking different varieties of chicken to make up for the lack of diversity in his palette. Oh, carrots and corn. These are his two most requested sides.
Lucas can count to ten in english and five in spanish. He also sings a pretty killer off key rendition of the ABC’S. Some other important stuff he has memorized? Every single character of the Ninja Turtles.
In short, two has been a crazy, kiss filled, epic tantrum, milestone filled year. Lucas León you are my star. I look forward to every year with you.
Me: Lets go play with your toys. Lucas: No. I want chocowate (chocolate).Oh no! Mama! Where my pants? After insisting on leaving the house with only a pull-up and rain boots. His new favorite phrase..I NOT! aka Nope. Ain’t happening mama.Not nice.I need you. Que all the heart melts. I love my coffee. No. I love my water.My aunt: Where’s Nicole? Lucas: “She stepped out.”Let’s do this!
I just adore these shots that Ivan took of Lucas and I. It was early morning and Dora was playing. Lucas had just finished his bottle and we were having our usual snuggle session. Lucas has become so very generous with kisses and puckers his lips justttt so. I don’t know what is it but I’ve become increasingly emotional the closer we get to his 3rd birthday. The other day somebody asked how old Lucas was and I replied “two years“. Then it hit me. We only have four months left until my boy turns 3. I swear I feel like we just planned his 2nd birthday party. This year has flew by at lightening speed. I wish I could bottle up his sweet snuggles, those giggles, and the kisses. Oh the kisses. I’m going to spend the next few months relishing in the fact that my boy is not quite three and soaking up all the goodness and hilarity that two has to offer. And then we move on to the three’s. Which I know are going to bring new adventures and milestones. But until then..my sweet two year old baby he’ll be. 
I know it’s been done before and I couldn’t quite think of a cute/original title for this new series because well, this is what Lucas says. So onward. Lucas is talking so much these days and every day he comes up with something new and hilarious (can you tell I’m his biggest fan?). Here are a few gems from the past few weeks:
Turtle power! Anyone else noticing a recurring ninja turtle pattern? I live for this kid and his turtle obsession. We can thank daddy for this one.
The ball is goneeee! A four word sentence, ya’ll!
No way, man. This phrase isn’t new but it’s still going strong.
After he falls or takes a spill he gets right up and shouts I’m ok! or I good!
He sings an awesome cover of “Elmo’s Song” and replaces Elmo with mommy or daddy, depending on his mood. My favorite is “Mommy’s song”.
He is an absolute mamas boy and any time he is “injured” (I use this word loosely) he comes to me, points to said ailing ligament, and says Mama I hurt. And then he receives 10 mama kisses which makes everything better.
Lucas woke up this weekend and found an empty bag of sour candy on the couch that Ivan and I had polished off once he went to bed. He brought the bag into our bed and shouted Daddyyyyy ate allll maaaaa candy!. At least he didn’t blame mama 😉
And the ultimate mystery – old man poo! He shouts this daily and neither Ivan or I can figure who or what he is referring to.