Alternate title:  Taryn needs to keep her big mouth shut!

Seriously.  Yesterday, for some reason unknown to me, Taryn taught Teagan all about “the binky fairy”.  How she knows about this I have no clue but she convinced him the binky fairy is awesome, she took her binkies (uhm, no she didn’t, Taryn never took binkies).  Really, she told him he’d get a new fun toy.  Shockingly, duder jumped on that wagon.  I say shockingly because he is majorly attached to the bink.  I never dreamed he’d have them at age 3, it’s just not our style to continue use that long, but with him, things were different.  On his tough days he needed them, for comfort, to cope and he seemed to have oral issues, the binky was a kinder way of him pulling on his teeth frantically in the beginning of his vaccine reaction.  For months on end we could tell if he was having a bad day initially by how much he “needed” the bink.  We were told for quite some time we shouldn’t stress him, no major changes, no potty training, no taking comfort items, etc.  He’s been doing well and we’ve started a little bit of potty training, very low pressure, very slowly making progress.  The binky though….it wasn’t on our radar yet.  Until yesterday.  Jason called me on my way home from a session and a few errands to let me know he was informed the binky fairy was apparently bringing a mickey mouse toy that very night.  Greeeeat!  Busiest week of the year and I’m at Target at 9 pm searching for a mickey mouse toy.  Only they didn’t have any.  Actually, they had one, a michael jackson mickey mouse dancing mouse that was $70.  Uhmmm, no.  I got creative and found a music book, two dvd cartoons, a book of stickers, a coloring book, etc.

So last night we gathered up the binkies knowing full well this would NOT have been our week of choice.  Fearing naptime and bedtime and stress….I need time to mentally prepare for these things.  Not to mention it would have been nice if we planned it on the weekend when we would both be home to double team it.

He woke up this morning THRILLED that the binky fairy had come.  THRILLED.  Played with his new stuff all day and carried the gift bag it was all in everywhere.  No binkie in the car, not in the house, not at the gym, nope, he declared he was a big boy now.  We fussed over him and praised him and made a big deal out of it all!

And then nap time hit.  He whined and fussed and swore he couldn’t sleep.  He tossed and turned and whined more and more more.  He then declared in sheer panic “I nanananaNOT ready to be a big boy!”  And “call that binky fairy and tell her to come back momma!”

An hour and a half of whining later he finally fell asleep.  In the middle of it all Jason texted me and my only reply was “I’m in nap hell….”  HA!  I don’t even remember sending that text!

When he woke up I fussed over him for sleeping without his bink and I told him what a big boy he is.  His chest immediately puffed out and he declared he could do that again!  I was skeptically hopeful.

Tonight, was…..interesting.

He started out by sitting in his bed and yelling at the top of his lungs “THIS IS NOT WORKING FOR ME!  THIS IS NOT WORKING FOR ME!”

I layed down with him and he immediately started to tell me all about how I need to call that binky fairy to come back again.  She could just bring him one bink and leave the toys too.  I told him it didn’t work that way and reminded him he slept without it at naptime.  While I tried to soothe him, distract him, hold his hand, rub his face, and just reassure him we had a 10 minute repetative conversation that resembles this:

This is not working for me.
This is not working for me.
Where your phone momma, call that fairy.
This is not working for me.
I forgettin’ somethin’ momma.
Momma, I forgettin’ somethin’.
I forgettin’ somethin’ momma.
This is not working for me.
MOMMA! MOMMA! MOMMA!

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Sigh.

Then he got quiet.  I looked over at him, he was laying on his back, scowling angrily, clutching his blankie with both hands, white knuckles and all.  I asked him if he was ok and then he scowled at me and said, as serious and as horrified as could be, “Momma, is there a blankie fairy?!”

Bless his heart.  I wanted to cry and laugh all at the same time.  God, I love that kid.

10 more minutes of reassurance that there is no such thing as the blankie fairy.  Thank God Ty and Taryn also have blankets made by my mom that look just like his beloved blankie.  He declared the blankie fairy must live in Africa (?!?!), rolled over and went to sleep.  We’ll see how many times he wakes up tonight.  Really, really, hoping for a smooth transition.  And sleep.  I will inform Taryn tomorrow that the blankie fairy does not exist.

ps – I knew I would cherish this someday, even more than the day I took it.  And boy do I ever.  And it strikes me that not only are there no longer binkies in my fridge at random, there is also no cheese, no eggs, no plastic and no foil.  Yes, times have indeed changed.  I’m ok with that.  Moving on is good.