From pacifiers to lip gloss and singing

Last week, I mentioned that we were paid a visit from the binky fairy. If all goes as planned, that was the last visit she will ever make to our home.

To say it has been a time of transition in our house would be an understatement.

In the past few weeks we have asked a lot from our now 4-year-old daughter. I believe she has handled the upheaval better than I have.

After all, she is the youngest, our baby. The Princess.

In July, we realized the Princess was quickly outgrowing her toddler bed. This convertible bed that served as a crib and a toddler bed for all three of our children in just over nine short years needed to be ousted.

It was bittersweet the day a new set of bunk beds were delivered to our home.

While she was unsure at first, thinking the new big bed would just swallow her up, after about a week the Princess adapted nicely to her big-girl bed.

Her fourth birthday came soon after, so we spent several weeks preparing her for the arrival of the binky fairy, who probably should have come years ago.

“The day after your birthday, you know what you have to do, right?”

I’m not sure she entirely understood, but she reluctantly packed up her pacifiers for the binky fairy and placed them in the mailbox.

In return the binky fairy left a care package of nail polish, lip-gloss and plastic jewelry. The plethora of big-girl items would be ideal for when she started preschool, which was next on the horizon.

So, while the Princess adapted to sleeping without her binky in a big-girl bed, we tossed in a new preschool and riding the bus.

“You are going to big-girl school now. You can’t use a binky anymore.”

As a result, our bedtime routine has also changed and become more arduous.

No longer can we just tuck her in, stick a plug in her mouth and move on. Helping her learn to soothe herself has been quite the challenge.

“Patience,” I tell myself. “Have patience, because one day you will miss this.”

Having patience means reading a minimum of two books and singing a squeaky rendition of “Jesus Loves Me,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “Rock-a-bye Baby” and “This Little Light of Mine” (twice) while I rub her back.

I thought this routine was working to settle the Princess into her slumber until she popped up this week piping out, “I’m gonna let it shhhiiinnneee!”

Apparently we still have some work to do in this department, but hard work pays off and, just maybe she will have a career as a singing night-club diva complete with Hello Kitty lip-gloss and rainbow-colored nail polish.

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