The Binky Fairy

Now that Eliza has reached the ripe old age of 3 and her attachment to the binky did not seem to be waning, we decided it was time to go cold turkey.  I had planned on taking her to the store and letting her pick out something fun that she could trade me for the binky, but we still anticipated that it was going to be a struggle.  Probably something along the lines of WWIII + a string of sleepless nights.  I mourned that it would probably be the end of naptime.  But my brilliant aunt Glynis told me about the "binky fairy" -- an idea from the Super Nanny herself.  The gist is this: the kid gathers up all their binkies and puts them in a jar, and then the Binky Fairy comes to get them and give them to the babies who need binkies, leaving a surprise in their place.  I didn't know if Eliza would really understand this storyline, but she was all over it.  I really shouldn't have been surprised -- two of her favorite things right now are fairies and babies.  So she was immediately on board with anything to help babies and completely enchanted by the idea of the Binky Fairy.

Much to our surprise, she felt asleep quickly (after a few more reassurances that the Binky Fairy was indeed going to give her binkies to the poor little babies that didn't have any binkies) and slept almost entirely through the night.  She did wake up about a half-hour before the usual time, crying for her binky. We went in and reminded her about the binky fairy scenario and she reluctantly fell back asleep.  A little later we could hear her crying it her room and it sure sounded like she was saying "Why? Whyyyyyyy?!"

But when she was finally ready to wake up and she saw that the Binky Fairy had replaced her binkies with a jar full of candy (pink Whoppers, to be exact) and a Princess Tiana doll, she was ecstatic.  And she has done terrific ever since.  So yay for the Binky Fairy!

That leads, however, to what I think is the funniest part of the whole story. Early Saturday morning, before she had come down to find her treats, Sammy and I were in the kitchen.  The following is our conversation:

Sam (hesistantly): "Mom, I don't think there's a Binky Fairy."
Me: "You're right."
Sam:  "It's just you, huh?"
Me: "Yup, I just went to Walmart last night after you guys went to bed."
--pause--
Sam: "Is it the same with the tooth fairy?"
Me: "What do you think?"
Sam: "I think it's just you... is that right?"
Me: "Do you want to know?"
--pause--
Sam: "Not until I'm done losing teeth."

He IS a smart kid. :)