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| E loved her MayMay |
The premise is that you leave your pacifier out when you go to bed. Overnight the fairy comes and takes the pacifier and leaves you a present. Additionally, the fairy gives the pacifiers to babies who need them.
We chose New Year's Eve to be night that the MayMay Fairy came. It was late in the week and we were going to be around for the long weekend. The start of the new year also seemed fitting. At the beginning of the week we started telling E that the MayMay fairy would be coming that week.
During the day on New Year's Eve we decorated a special bag for E to leave for the MayMay fairy. She had a good time coloring and adding special stickers to the bag.
Just before going to bed, we gathered all of the MayMays and put them in the bag. Then we set the bag by the front door. She was so brave when she put the bag out. Her lip was quivering as she walked back to her bedroom. That night she cried for about 15 minutes going to bed. She slept well that night and we felt a little like rock stars. (This was probably a little premature.)
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| She was so sad when she left her bag. |
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| The MayMay Fairy brought an Elsa doll, a tool set and a suitcase with light up wheels. |
She enjoyed her gifts and asked about the MayMay a couple of times. Each time, we reminded her where it went. Her nap that day came in the form of a car ride because she "won" the battle during nap time.
On New Year's Day we went to visit family for dinner and E played with her cousins. Normally, she is really tired and would crash in the car after spending all afternoon playing. This time...not so much. There were tears and lots of asking for her MayMay. It took us about 45 minutes to get her to bed and there were lots of tears. She was also up overnight...not fun.
The next night was when the sh@*! hit the fan. It took us well over an hour to get her to go to sleep. Most of that was spent screaming, crying, trying to climb out of her crib and asking for her MayMay. (That night involved lots of Mommy tears too. I felt so bad for her.) I would have given in, but luckily my husband is much stronger than I am and talked me down off the ledge.
After much discussion, we decided that maybe a big girl bed would help with the transition. The next morning we asked her if she would like the rail off her crib and showed her a picture of what her crib would look like when converted to a toddler bed. She said that she would want that and we were desperate for just about anything that might help.
Unfortunately, the photo I showed her also had a purple blanket and pillow, so she thought that this transition also meant a purple bed. So, that day we went looking for a purple blanket. Target, as always, came to the rescue.
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| Testing out the "new" bed |
I wish that this was the perfect fix, but it still took an hour for her to go to bed that night. At least she was happy and talkative instead of crying. Sadly, bedtime hasn't been the same since the MayMay went away. Some nights she goes down with no problem, other nights it is a fight. Similarly, her consistency of sleep has not been great either. (There are nights when I really miss the MayMay.)
I just keep telling myself that there will be a point when I get sleep again...someday.
