Down with Pacifiers

When Addison and Mackenzie were born, I was fanatical about some things (sleeping, feeding, routine), but relatively laid-back about others.  One thing I was very relaxed about was the use of pacifiers.  I was NOT one of the mothers hoping my babies wouldn't get attached to them; rather, I had the attitude of if it gets me more peace and quiet...let 'em have it!

And boy, did my girls get attached to their pacis.

We didn't use them in the hospital, but I remember on the first night home, after I had dozed for a few minutes, my mom told me that she and Jeremy had opened a package of pacifiers, sterilized them, and given them to the girls.  At that moment in time, it was a blessing.  I remember how HUGE those first pacis looked against the girls' tiny faces.

Their little heads slowly caught up in size, and the attachment to the pacifiers grew stronger.  We were so proud when A & M learned to maneuver their pacis back in their mouths by themselves.  Reaching into the backseat to retrieve a lost pacifier a dozen times a day got really old.  And, oh, when they learned to find the pacis in their bed at night...life got so much easier!

But now, two and a half years later, I am ready to kiss the pacis goodbye.  They have served their purpose, and I am now over it.  We have tried multiple times to cut the pacifiers except for bedtime, but we have not been very successful so far.  The girls have not had them at all at school this year, including for naps, and I thought that would help us at home, but it really hasn't.  My mom reports that on some days, the first thing the girls do when she picks them up from school is request a paci.  And of course, they each only want a certain paci, in a certain shape, size, and color...so we have to keep up with the same two pacis all the time.  Ridiculousness!

I will admit that I have been willing to take the easy route and just hand over the paci when they get whiny and start demanding it....but I have just about reached my limit.  I am sick of pictures like this:

I want to see my girls' faces without a paci in the way! 

Ugh, how I dread fighting the fight though.  The whining and begging may very well drive me insane.  It's got to happen sometime, and I have a feeling it wouldn't be much easier in six months.  The potty training has stalled for the time being (thanks for the great comments on that post, by the way...it helps to know we are not alone!), so maybe now is the time to go ahead and focus on ditching the pacis?

We have thrown around a few cute ideas/rewards for giving them up, the most appealing of which is taking a trip to the zoo, then leaving all our pacis for the baby animals who "need" them.  I just don't know...it's going to be rough any way we go about it, I have a feeling.  I can feel myself getting more and more ready mentally, and that's at least half the fight, I think.

Any ideas for me??  If you've fought the paci fight, how did you do it?  Anyone want to take my kids for about two weeks and bring them home paci-free??