Thursday, February 05, 2009

Fa-fa.

And what, prey tell, is a "fa-fa," do you ask?

It is my son's pacifier. That is the name he gave it.

To this day we still don't know where this name came from. It isn't from daycare because he's not allowed to have a pacifier at daycare. I've never called his pacifier anything but "pacifier," and my husband calls it a "chupon," which is the Spanish word for "pacifier." Can you fathom how "fa-fa" came out of those two words? Because I can't.

We've been trying to get that boy to give up the pacifier for months now, but as soon as he gets sick, we let him have it more regularly during the day so he would feel better mentally. Because it is all mental at this point. The boy is addicted. We decided that at age two he was going to have to give it up completely, but I think both of us have decided without really talking about it that really? Who cares. He only gets it in public when he needs to calm down. Other than that, he has it at home, in the car, and definitely at night.

The only negative aspect of the pacifier, in my humble opinion, is that it's delaying his speech progression. But then, that boy is talking up a storm all of a sudden and saying these amazing things to us, that I can't really believe the pacifier is doing that. And anyway, if I can't understand him, I pull out the pacifier and tell him to repeat himself since his speech is not clear with the pacifier in his month.

In hindsight, I wish we had cut the pacifier out at age one. It would have been so much easier back then, back in the day when he wasn't really talking and wasn't as aware of things as he is now. But we didn't.

Another item he's named on his own, and we don't know where the name came from, is his favorite blanket - baby. Yes, he calls his blanket "baby." My husband and I used to call his baby "woobie" because of the Mr. Mom movie, and I can sort of see how he's turn "woobie" into "baby," but really, they are two different words and pronunciations.

I think the best moment of this week (out of many) is when my husband called me while on the BART train and said, "Oh, and his fa-fa is in the center compartment." Later I asked him if anyone heard him say "fa-fa." I mean, you're never alone on the BART train unless it's the day after Christmas, so everyone can be listening to your conversations if you so choose to have one while on the train. He said no. I don't think he really cared either.

And, as I mentioned in my previous post, my son is turning two next week, and I don't think he nor my husband and I are ready to let fa-fa go.

3 comments:

Kmommy said...

My son was almost 3 when he finally decided to give up his "nuk" He had gotten to the point where he only wanted it at naptimes and bedtime, and he was the one who decided to just let it go a few months before he turned 3! And thankfully baby B has never liked them. So I really lucked out on both counts! I wouldn't worry, he will probably decide when he's through with it :)

headgamessicka said...

My daughter and ur son must be cut from the same cloth cause she too calls her pacifier a fa fa I believer the reason being is that they can't. Pronounce pacifier so they are trying to say pacifier but it comes out like "fafa" weird but true

Anonymous said...

I called my pacifier a fa-fa too!!