The Sleeping Fairy

We recently moved Allison permanently into Emma’s room. For the first week or so it was relatively smooth sailing. We had incidents with Emma getting up and coming into the living room, but given the fact that we previously stayed with the girls individually until they were asleep, this was a vast improvement.

After a while, the vast improvement no longer felt that way and we were on the verge of suicide. They kept talking, laughing, screaming for what seemed like forever. We were slowly slipping back to the “mommy and daddy stay with us until we’re asleep” way of living. Danny and I were not happy campers. Danny did a little Internet research and found something about the Sleeping Fairy. This most wonderful fairy watches for little children to go to sleep like big kids (a.k.a. like their parents want them to) and puts a little reward under their pillows when they do.

We’ve invited the Sleeping Fairy into our house for almost a week now. The first two nights it worked really well. She left chocolate covered raisins and a plastic ring for each girl the first night. She left dollar bills the second night. On the third night, the Sleeping Fairy did not make a stop because the girls had reverted back to their old ways. See, children even test the limits of their fairies! For the past three nights, there has been barely a peep after we’ve left the room. Yee Ha! Following through seemed to do the trick. Not knowing how long we’re going to have to keep this up, we focused on economizing the rewards. We had freebies for two nights in a row. Last night Danny bought a bag of suckers for 99 cents at the grocery store. We can use them on and off. Truth be told, the ease of getting the girls to sleep at night is worth any amount of reward for any length of time.

After we leave the room, Danny and I lay on our bed and talk until they are asleep. It’s nice to have that kind of quiet together time. We lie to the girls when we tell them that we don’t get anything from the Sleeping Fairy.