Wanting to Rescue

My son has been crying for a half hour straight. Why? Because this is the chosen day for giving up his "night nights". What are they you ask? They are his pacifiers that he has had since the day we brought him home from the hospital. He has had them for every nap and every night since August 18, 2005. I imagine that he is in there screaming, crying, and kicking the wall right now because he is experiencing withdrawl. It must be like quitting smoking for him. I don't know, all I do know is that if we hadn't been talking about this day for the last 3 weeks or so I would be caving right now. How do I assure him that he will get over what he is feeling right now? It is almost impossible to not want to rescue him. I want to run right out to the mail box and get his "goodbye night night bag" that is waiting for our post man to take it away to some other needy baby. He put them in the bag himself and knew exactly what he was doing. Yet now he has to deal with this feeling. The missing....which I am all to familiar with and that is why I am struggling with not giving in. Who cares if he has buck teeth, who cares if he uses a pacifier until he is 22? I don't! Because I want to protect him from this very feeling that he is experiencing right now. The missing, the longing to have something you can't have. It is a hard lesson for a 32 year old let alone my 3 year old little boy. It's really hard being a mom some days...