The dummy fairy arrived!

 Sammy has had a dummy and his cloth since we went to Australia back in 2013. Remarkably, so far, I cant see that his speech  has been affected. His teeth however had suffered slightly and this is something that we will need to get looked at at some point soon. So I made the decision that the dummy had to go!

So yeah, I have mentioned the dummy fairy on a few occasions, but Sam really hasn't been keen on the idea. However this time when I mentioned it in passing (after being sick to death of seeing this pink bit of plastic stuck in his mouth), he said yes! So i grabbed hold of that yes and rolled with it.

My plan of action for that day was to clearly explain, over and over that the dummy fairy would come when he was asleep and take his dummy away and give it to the little babies that needed dummies. In return for being such a brave boy, the dummy fairy would leave him a present. A simple concept that both Sam and Fin seemed to understand. I even showed them a picture of who was coming and said how happy she was that Sammy was giving up his dummy.

So at nap time I said that this would be the last time he would sleep with his dummy and that when they woke from their naps, we would go and buy some special bags for them to decorate which we would put the dummies in and hang on the door ready to be collected. I made sure that Fin was involved in this too because if Sammy got a present and Fin didn't, I didn't think it would be that fair. So Fin took on the role of helper to remind Sam where he dummy was when he asked for it.  They decided they each wanted some chocolate coins and a dinosaur. A phone call to Mark and £30 later, the dinosaurs were purchased and I managed to find some coins left over from Christmas.

Now I really wish I had gotten picture of the preparation stage but I didn't. Sam had a pink shiny gift bag and Fin chose a red one. They happily decorated them both with Peter Rabbit stickers and sparkles.We phoned Daddy and told him what was happening and we also called Nana and told her who was visiting that night. I though it would help to seal in the deal.

That night, we went through what would happen at bed time so there were no surprises. We had our stories, hung the bags on their door and waited in anticipation for s**t to go down! Now amazingly, there was no crying, no fussing. Sammy did ask for his dummy as soon as he got into bed (I think the realization set in) but he was OK about it. I had to sit in between them and tell them how happy everyone would be without dummies whilst stroking their hands.  It seemed to do the trick and we had a full night sleep with no disruptions.

The next morning I got up really enthusiastic and excited about what the dummy fairy had bought in the night. The boys jumped up and bought their bags into our bed. They were thrilled with their presents and Sammy didn't  seem to miss his dummy. Fin got his present for being such a good helper and I was so proud that my plan had been so well executed.

 These were the best pictures we could get!

 A week later and all is mostly well. Nap times have really suffered unfortunately but Sam hasn't really asked for his dummy. We have noticed that he is very very grumpy in the mornings and whether this is a result of not having his dummy, we don't know. But night times are completely fine. He sleeps all night without a hitch. Best of all, I can see his lovely face all the time now!