The Binkey Fairy Came to Our House

So my three and half year old still used his binkey until this weekend.

I felt like we were never going to able to take it away from him...he has sensory issues and he absolutely would refuse to fall asleep with out it. He just couldn't get to a calm enough place with out one. It was causing a gap between his top and bottom front teeth. Not to mention, we could barely keep tabs on one and it was so incredibly frustrating to play "where is that dang binkey?!" every night at bedtime.

With in the last year we had gotten him down to only using it at night, but he refused to give it up then. Trying to get him to sleep with out it was met with wailing and tears, and when your two boys share a room, you do whatever you have to to keep your children quiet so the other can sleep.
It seemed hopeless.

I had read about using "the Binkey Fairy" but I worried that due to Kaiden's language delay, he wouldn't be able to understand the concept.

Then I saw that there were books about the Binkey Fairy, and since Kaiden is very visual, I figured that might help. But I didn't want to buy him a book, and I wanted the child in the book to look like Kaiden so he could relate to it.

So I made my own book.

I made the little boy in the book look like Kaiden and had four simple pages which in a way as simply as possible that if he put his binkies in a basket on the porch, the Binkey Fairy would come and take them to new babies and leave him a present.When we got to the point in the story where Kaiden puts the binkies in the basket, we got the basket, found his binkies, and he put them in all on his own. He didn't want to at first, but we showed him the page where the binkey fairy leaves a present and put them in. Then my husband Jake got Kaiden all hyped up and took Kaiden to put them on the balcony.

Now, we were originally going to have him go to bed and wake up to a present. But as I helping Kaiden with his nightly bathroom routine, I realized Kaiden might sleep better if he immediately saw that the Binkey Fairy came and he had his present to replace the Binkey that night.So Jake quickly switched out the binkies for his present while we were still in the bathroom and gave me the okay to tell Kaiden the Binkey Fairy had come. Kaiden ran to the back door and looked through the glass. Upon seeing the blue bag with colorful tissue paper, he exclaimed "whas dat?!"

 

We let him out the door and he ran right to his present, of course. Jake helped him read the note the Binkey Fairy left, and then he got to open his present right there on the porch.

Now every time we go to Target, Kaiden goes to the children's bedding section and grabs a stuffed octopus pirate that matches a bed set they have. He LOVES anything that lives underwater, but particularly the octopus and whale. Target didn't have any stuffed whales, so I knew the octopus would be perfect and Jake agreed. It was one of his favorite animals, he already loved that toy and it would be perfect for cuddling at bedtime to replace his Binkey.

 

He LOVED it. He kept hugging it and saying "awwww." My brother-in-law was visiting and ran over to him and showed him his new octopus very excitedly. He was one happy little boy.

When it came time to go to bed, we decided letting him fall asleep in our bed, which he calls "boo bed" (big bed), might be best considering it would be his first night with out his binkey.
He instinctively asked for his binkey when we gave him his blankey, but I got his little book out and showed him the pages and reminded him again that he had given it to the binkey fairy and that's when she had given him the octopus. He understood because then he turned to go to bed with out any fuss. However, it turns out, I wasn't invited. He said " 'mon dahee! bye mommy!" (Come on Daddy) took Jake's hand, waved to me and led him into our room. I had to go ask for my hug and kiss from my now-too-big-to-give-mommy-kisses-goodnight-because-he-doesn't-need-a-binkey-boy. But I felt nothing but pride as I watched him walk into our room and get right into bed with out a melt down for his binkey.

I was later told that while they were there in bed, Kaiden kept hugging his octopus and saying "I ya you red ocopus" (I love you).

I later came in and snuggled with everyone, and where my husband was asleep...Kaiden was not. Jake woke up to me getting into bed, and I gently reminded Kaiden it was bedtime and he needed to go to sleep.

He turned onto his back, held his octopus in the air and said the cutest thing I've ever heard him say.

"dake you beekey fah ee"    Thank you Binkey Fairy.

Each word was slow with a pause between because longer phrases are difficult for him to get out of his sweet little mouth.

Then he hugged his octopus, rolled over, closed his eyes, and sighed.

He did not go to sleep unfortunately, so later we took him to his bed and there was a little bit of resistance, but it was mostly to the idea of going to bed. He asked for his binkey one more time, and we gently reminded him what happened once more, and once again that was that.

He went to sleep with out his binkey, snuggled up to his octopus.

I was the proudest mommy alive.