the Nuk fairy

As if leaving our home and moving into a new one, and leaving her daycare and friends, and leaving Grandma and Grandpa Raab, wasn't enough, we decided to take away Liesl's precious pacifier, the Nuk. She was getting into bad habits - like waking me up in the middle of the night to find it for her. And it was starting to push out her upper two teeth. So we took a deep breath, prepared for some sleeplessness, and hatched a plan.

We told Liesl she was a really big girl, and the Nuk fairy was going to come and take away all of her Nuks, but that the fairy would leave her a really good, really big present.  She seemed excited about the prospect of the present, and about the idea of a fairy.  (It was probably a good thing to schedule this right after Christmas, as she had the idea of unseen beings bringing presents fresh in her mind.)  We put all of her Nuks in a bowl by the window, and she went to sleep for a nap. When she woke up, the Nuks were gone and a giant stuffed dog was in their place.  She was amazed and happy.

So far, so good. It's been about a week and she hasn't even really asked for the Nuks - she seems to get that the fairy took them all away. She's even sleeping through the night without waking up and asking for it. The only problem is that whereas she used to happily run into her room for naptime and fall asleep immediately, she now insists that she isn't tired and doesn't want to nap or sleep at nighttime. She delays, she stalls, she makes up excuses, and it takes her an hour. We have had to hold her hand or pet her head to help her. And she's waking up really early in the mornings and finding it tough to fall back asleep - which in combination with the difficulties falling asleep means that she's been really overtired and a bit cranky (i.e. willful).  But all in all, a success.

Next up: potty training!