Beautiful Life Made Easy: When the Soother Fairy comes

The Soother Fairy came the other night.

A little fairy who searches the trees for soothers from big boys who don't need them anymore. She swoops in late at night, flying through the trees while everyone is sleeping, snatches the little bag full off all of those wonderful soothers and carries them off to the crying babies who desperately need them.

That Soother Fairy is something special. Yes she certainly is.

She is magical. Sneaky. And very generous.

Because the great part about giving up all of those wonderful soothers is that she will leave you a little thank you present--a little something to show her gratitude to all of the big boys and girls who are willingly giving up their beloved soothers to the babies who need them so much.

Because everyone has their limits...and our limit is 2yrs old. If you're 2 in our house, soothers are still okay at bedtime--but as that year comes to an end, the Soother Fairy is called and she gets down to business. Whether that 2yr old is ready or not.

So we spent some time pumping up how great this would be.

"You're so lucky Carter! The Soother Fairy told us that she is coming to OUR house, because she heard that you're a big boy now and she knows a lot of sad sad babies who really need your soothers. I heard too that she'll even leave you a little present as a thank you. Isn't this SO exciting?!"

"And do you know what Mya? The Soother Fairy told us that anyone who helps to encourage Carter to give up his soothers will also get a little present" (because, just like potty training...everyone gets a treat when the potty trainer is finally peeing on that potty--because everyone needs to feel included in the process and learn to encourage others to do good things).

So we had two other little cousins and one big sister helping our big boy run around the house finding all of the soothers that afternoon. They got placed one by one in that special soother bag...

and we all headed outside to find the perfect spot on one of our trees to hang that bag for the Soother Fairy to find.

But, you see...it's all fun and games until that last soother has to be dropped into that bag.

So with a lot of encouragement, a little distraction and a lot of cheering, it took this little boy a good 15 minutes to finally take it out of his mouth and put it down.

And he wasn't happy about it. But he did it.

And Jeff hung that little bag of soothers up as high as he could get it.

Because the Soother Fairy only flies high up in the trees to find those soothers---and little boys then can't grab them back when no one is looking.

So we all fell asleep that night and awaited her arrival (and spent a lot of extra time putting a boy to bed that night who wanted his beloved soother).

So as the morning came, four excited cousins ran outside to check to see if the Soother Fairy had actually come.

And she had.

With a little letter left hanging on the tree for a little boy who was desperately missing his soothers.

So they all ran inside, those little cousins, and Carter found that sparkly bag in the closet from that sneaky little fairy.

And the treats from the Soother Fairy were passed out one by one.

So we made it. The soothers are gone. Those beloved little soothers that he used to help him sleep at night and at nap time are gone. And we're all adjusting to it, because this two year old is NOT happy about it.

Habits are hard to break. But necessary.

So we're surviving these HARD few days with a cranky little boy. A frustrated little boy. A mad little boy at nap time who cries for his soothers. Because breaking old habits takes a few days for everyone to adjust to. But 2yrs old is our limit, so he snuggles his blanket now at bedtime and we're all trying to be patient...because patience is a practice, and we're practicing daily. *insert exhausted, ragged mother symbol here*

So in the meantime, he's distracting himself with some other new activities...like teaching his cousin how to breast feed.

Seems appropriate.