Thursday 15 July 2010

Operation Soothie (and Other Lies We Tell Our Children)

Allison has used her green pacifier (aka Soothie) since she was about 5 months old and historically only used her Soothie at nap time and bed time. Aside from that, the Soothie stayed safely ensconced in her room, so in my mind, no harm, no foul.

In the last six months, a great deal of change has been introduced into Alli's life. We moved in with my parents, she became a big sister, Mommy got sick, Daddy left for post, we moved to Vietnam. Makes me want to get my own Soothie. During this time, the Soothie began making guest appearances during the day and in the last two weeks, I decided that enough was enough.
So yes, as we approach 3 and the coveted status of "big girl", it was time to rip off the band aid, so to speak - no more Soothie. Cue the Soothie Fairy. First, you write the Soothie Fairy a letter. Then, the Soothie Fairy visits your house while you sleep, removes said Soothie and leaves you a very special, big girl present.

(Dear Soothie Fairy, My name is Alli Russell Page. I am 2 1/2. I am now a big girl. If you take my soothie, please give me a goldfish! Thank you. Love, Allison and also please bring Daddy a toy.)
So this past Monday, the Soothie Fairy visited our house, removed the Soothies (Green Soothie and the backup, broken Yellow Soothie) and left this in its place:

Depending on the time of day, the fish is called Alli, Dorothy or Peanut Butter Sandwich. I understand from Allison that the fish is 2 1/2 and was born in a land called "Coco" which is also where, apparently, Daddy was born.

It has been a rough couple of days for the members of Operation Soothie. Allison went on a sleep strike and stayed up the entire first night and skipped her nap the next day. Since then, she actually did pass out and has had 2 fairly successful nights of sleep and 2 fairly successful naps. I am proud of her because I know it was a hard thing to give up, which is obvious from these pathetic and endearing pictures.


RIP Green Soothie - next up, Potty Training (aka Why Mommy Drinks)

3 comments:

  1. You are so creative!! I like the idea of a fairy coming and taking something only to leave a gift...other than teeth. :)

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  2. Good for you guys! I too was convinced that either we'd have to send her off to college with her binkie or we'd be stuck with the bills from the therapy she'd need to get over us taking it away. But kids are resilient and I was very surprised when Annabelle gave hers up pretty much on her own about 3 weeks ago (almost 2 months after she turned 3 - I was pretty much mortified that she was still using it).

    As far as potty training - just always have a set of extra clothes on hand and keep repeating to yourself that she won't walk down the aisle in diapers . . . Good luck!

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  3. Congratulatios on a sucessful Operation Soothie. Carter never got attached to a paci but instead uses her thumb at naptime and nighttime so I am not sure we will be able to trade a thumb for a goldfish so we might be in trouble!!

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