Such Big Girls

(I want to apologize upfront for the really long post.)
As embarrassed as I am to admit, until just recently my girls have slept with their binkies. A long time ago I told them that they could only have them when they were sleeping and planned to get rid of them altogether. As time went on they continued to be very attached to them, especially R. When we would tell her about a vacation that we would go on, she would always add, "and I can take my binkie and blanket." They are great sleepers and I worried that when I took their binkies away, they would no longer sleep well. We went through some painful nights when R would bite a hole in her binkie, or it would just wear out because it had been used so much. I was so tempted to just let this be it and be done with them, but always gave in and found a replacement. Bob even special ordered some online because she liked these certain ones and we could not find them in the stores. It did not help that both our pediatrician and our dentist told us that they were okay to still use binkies until about 4 years old, especially if it was only at night. This was my rationalization to let them keep them, but really I was just lazy. The binkies gave me leverage. I knew I would get more willing girls when I took their binkies away.
Bob found and told the girls a story about if they put their binkies on the window sill, the fairies would come and take the binkies to babies that needed them. In exchange, the fairies would leave a gift. The girls liked this idea, but always said when they get bigger, or not yet. I started to make a deadline of their third birthday, but soon caved.
A couple of days ago H told me she wanted to put her binkie in the window sill. Questioning her readiness, and probably mine, suggested she just put it on the dresser for the night to see if she would be okay. Since it was not on the window sill, the fairies would not take it. She did fine that night, and the next night made the same suggestion. We did as she requested, but R was not ready yet. The next morning, the binkie was gone and she received a new baby. The funny thing was she did not even notice the gift at first and R had to show her, because she had noticed immediately. Later she did tell me that she saw the fairies come, there were two fairies and they were blue. She loved her new baby and her stroller, and so did R. H was pretty good at sharing, especially for a new toy, and R spent a lot of time rocking and holding H's baby. All day I heard from R that she wanted to give her binkies to the fairies because she also wanted a new baby with her stroller. She would say things like, "I think it is getting dark", and suggested going to bed. At nap time we explained that the fairies only came at night, but suggested that she practice. She tried to go without her binkie, but soon turned to tears. This is what I had expected. I knew how attached she was.
Nigh time came and I new R was both excited and nervous. I worried for her. She cried a little when she put her binkie on the window sill. It killed me to watch her sadness. She went to bed, but soon began to cry a lot. I did not know if I could handle this and wished I could do something to make it better, but knew prolonging it would not help either. Bob and I tried to comfort her, but did not seem to do much good. We left her in bed, and she made the choice to get her binkie from the window sill.
After she had fallen asleep I decided to take her binkie from her and I put it on the window sill. She normally, in her sleep, searches for her binkie in her bed and finds it. I thought she would wake up when she could not find it. She did good for several hours, so we went on with our plans. At 3 AM, after the fairies had come, R came in our room crying that she wanted her binkie, and I was not surprised. She was very tired. I held her for a little bit, and put her back to bed and she went to sleep.
This morning R told me about the three fairies that came last night, one orange, one yellow, and one blue. She loved her new baby with her stroller. Both R and H have had so much fun playing with them and are such good little mommies.



I have been dreading tonight. The girls did not get naps today because we went swimming, so I was hopeful that they would be tired and go to bed. R was a little hesitant to go to bed, but Bob offered that they could sleep with a different baby. The night went on without any noise, but I did not believe. R is now asleep. No crying. I still do not believe it is over, but am a little more hopeful.






I guess I will have to start working on G!