I cannot endorse Pacimals enough. A friend of mine from Transit bought one of those for Corbin when I was pregnant. For a marketing class (hope I'm remembering this right), she had to pitch this new item. The lady who created Pacimals is from Atlanta, and you can read all about her creation on her website
here.
Of course Corbin ended up with Pepper the Pig, because she is pink, and my friend knew how much of a fan I am of anything of that color.
If you're not sure what a Pacimal is, it's a stuffed animal with a very soft pacifier attached to the back of it's head. It's supposed to serve as a positioner, a comfort to your baby, and an easy way to keep up with the actual pacifier itself! We loved ours, but found that sometimes Pepper would just get in the way and so it was easier to just keep the pacifier separate from the piggy.
The pacifier that comes with the Pacimal is CLEAR. Which means if you drop it, it's almost impossible to find (especially if you're one of those people like me who can't find things, especially if they are right in front of me). Last year at Christmas, we had a family gathering at my aunt and uncle's. The clear pacifier disappeared. We tore their house to pieces looking for it, but it was gone. It was the only one we had, and the only pacifier that Corbin would take.
She will NOT take any other paci. We even bought some of those ones that are the same shape, that come in green and pink, you can get at Walmart. I believe they are called Soothies.
As you can see, they are the same shape, but they are different in a very significant way. The Paci from Pacimals is very soft and smooth. These Soothies are hard and not gentle at all. Corbin hated them. We had to endure her fits while we waited for our new Pacis, which at the time could only be ordered from the Pacimals website, as they were still very new and not really out on the market yet.
We have ordered from them a few times. Her original purple one ended up being stolen by the dogs, a pink one was lost in the nursery at the gym (we know the girl working threw it away), and her blue one is floating somewhere in the Atlantic ocean after it escaped from Ryan's swim shorts. Last time we ordered from the website, we were overcharged for shipping at the lady sent us TWO FREE ONES, and we ended up with three new pacis! She is really sweet and always responds to any feedback you leave her.
Lately we'd been down to one paci, which we called "the spare" because it was in horrible shape and we only used it in emergencies when one of the others had disappeared. I was getting ready to order some new ones, when on a whim, I checked their website to see if any stores around our area might nowadays carry them (Rattles n Rhymes in Athens started carrying the clear ones just before we left). I was in luck! A baby boutique called Just for Baby and More had them, and in color! They closed at 6pm, though, which is tough, because it's a bit of a drive from here to there, especially factoring in 5pm traffic.
The lady at the boutique held two of them for me, and Thursday when I got off work, we were off! I got to the store about 5:56pm. I was so glad I made it! We now have a new purple and orange paci. And of course, as soon as we get home with the new ones, the missing pink one turns up. So now we have four pacifiers, including "the spare."
Not complaining, though! My baby loves them. She will not even THINK about sleeping or going anywhere in public without them. We try not to let her have them otherwise unless she's being supremely cranky, but she is very attached to them, as she is this pink fleece blanket she always carries around.
We plan to break her eventually (I vow she can't have them past her second birthday!), but right now I don't see a point in messing up a good thing! She's happy, and that's all that matters, right? :)
PS. Another tidbit concerning "the spare" - it's the original clear pacifier that came with Pepper! My aunt found it one day while cleaning and returned it to us! How neato is that?
