Audrey has a great fondness for her binkie(s). Over time we have purchased about 20 of them, growing in size as she did. Recently she has developed a few favorites, the "squeaky binkies", or as she says it, "squinky binkies." They are large binkies that have developed a leak so they squeak when she sucks on them.
Our pediatrician recommended that we get rid of pacifiers long ago, but we figured she'd give up the habit when she was ready. Lately, however, she has just seemed too old for it, and Carol was getting concerned that Audrey's teeth were being affected (alignment-wise). So, we decided it was time for a plan.
Carol had read previously about parents using the story of the "binkie fairy". We started preparing Audrey a few weeks ahead of time. Carol cut lots of photos of babies out of magazines and covered a cardboard box with them. Every once in a while, we would encourage Audrey to donate an old disfavored binkie to "the babies" by depositing it in the box. Then we told her that one day the binkie fairy would come and take all of the binkies - even the squeaky ones - and leave something under Audrey's pillow in return. Audrey decided that "thing" should be Disney fairy dolls that are connected to a new Tinkerbell movie that is coming out (her first instance of being influenced by advertising). Fair enough.
Last Friday the binkie fairy finally came. I managed to get the binkie out of Audrey's mouth in the middle of the night without disturbing her, and left the new fairy toys next to her pillow. At about 6:30am she showed up in our room with them and was very excited.
Audrey did pretty well all day. We usually keep pretty busy on weekends. Saturday night she was sad to go to bed without her binkie, but she did alright. Sunday, when she was upset about something and would normally use her binkie to calm herself, she complained, "I want the binkie fairy to come back and bring back my squinky binkie!" Poor thing.
She mentioned it a few more times over the next two days or so. But now it's been a week since we've heard a word about binkies. Carol and I always visit Audrey's room to admire her before we go to bed. We enjoy the fact that now we can see her whole face.
Another milestone passed!
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