The binky fairy

3 years ago, as a new mother I was determined not to offer my child a binky. That lasted about 6 hours. Reese had acid reflux as a baby and cried at the top of her lungs most of the time that she spent awake, which was around 18 hours a day. We quickly offered her a binky and it helped. She became deeply addicted to this binky. At around 18 months I transitioned her to only having her binky for nap time and night time. It took her about a week but she adjusted well to not having it during her awake hours. Once she turned 2 she began to attempt to manipulate us to get her binky during awake hours. She figured out that if she was sick we would let her have it so she would often say “I am really, really sick- I need a binky” or she would say “I am so tired- I need a binky”. We wouldn’t give into this but for the last year we would often have a lot of whining about wanting a binky.

We have been preparing her for the past 6 months that when she turned 3 she would be a “big girl” and wouldn’t have binkys anymore. She knew it was coming and I was anticipating hell for at least a week. She turned 3 on a Friday and her birthday party was the following day, Saturday. We had family in that weekend and a lot going on so we decided we would implement no binkys on Sunday night. That Sunday 2 sweet 6 year old girls that live on our cul-de-sac played with Reese all day long. They played babies, ran around, had a tea party and drew with chalk. Reese had a blast and felt like such a big girl. I used that to my advantage. That night I told her that those little girls let her play with them because she is a big girl now. They don’t use binkys so if she is going to keep playing with them she can’t use them either. She really soaked this up and did so well with it. We put all of her binkys on the front bench for the binky fairy to come and pick up. The fairy came and got the binkys while Reese was in the bath and she went to deliver them to the little babies that needed them. She did so well with this big transition and I am so proud of her. During the week one of her teacher’s forgot that she wasn’t taking binkys anymore and offered her one for nap. Reese responded “no, I don’t use binkys I am a big girl”. When I heard this I was SOOOOO proud of her and pretty surprised. That Friday we took her to chuck e cheese to celebrate the week without binkys.

Ella didn’t take a binky until her 1^st birthday. It was like she became aware at that point that her sister used them and her friends at school had them and she insisted on having one also. We planned to rid her of them last week also but we quickly gave up on that. Instead we have transitioned her to only having them at sleeping times. So far we have been able to hide the fact that she is still using them for sleeping from Reese. I don’t look forward to this conversation once Reese discovers this but we will cross that bridge when we have to.

I am so proud of Reese and cannot believe how big she is getting!