Mo-mo Fairy- YAY!

I'm so happy to say that the soother is gone! For weeks every night before bed I asked Willow if she was ready for the mo-mo fairy to take her pacifier and replace it with toys, candy and money (this is what Willow decided the fairy would leave her).

2 Thursdays ago, after bedtime stories I repeated "Hey Willow, I have an idea, why don't we put mo-mo under your pillow for the mo-mo fairy?".
"No," she answered, "on Thursday".
"It is Thursday honey".
"Oh, OK" she said and kissed her soother and placed in under her pillow. Really? Yay! That was easy! (but took several weeks)

3 or 4 days, a bit of whining, a bit of protest, some change in routine and we're fine. When she naps it has to be in my bed, watching cartoons to distract her. We put a little light on her wall beside the bed that she can turn on and off- so she can read books by herself before she falls asleep at night. Business as usual. She loooovves her new teddy bear, a soft little guy the mo-mo fairy left her. She's never been attached to dolls or stuffies, so I'm thrilled.

Willow and Teddy, or Mo as he's sometimes called.

Now, to tackle night-weaning Toby!

28 months

Willow is 28 months old, 2 1/3 years old, 2.3333 years old.


Her manners are impressive for a 2 year old. She says please and thank you for everything, and "Yes Mom!" or "OK mom!". She still throws a tantrum here and there, but mostly she's just a joy to be around.

Loves the slide!

Bed and nap time are a breeze lately- especially since 'mo-mo' has been sleeping during the day. Willow is so excited and happy to be reunited with Mo-mo that she loves going to bed. As I leave her rooms she squeals "Love you Mom! See you when I wake up!". It makes up for the years of bed-time battles. There is usually still one or two wakeups during the night, usually for a drink of water. We've tried giving her a full sippy cup for her dolly to hold until she's thirsty- but she drinks it all right away. She's been giving signs of readiness to nighttime potty train. Sometimes she'll get up soon after going to bed to pee, and usually runs from her room in the morning right to the washroom. She is dry 90% of the time after naps, and about half the time in the morning.

Willow watches kids at the fair, instead of the animals.

Not so sure about the pigs. Lately she crosses her arms in her shy defensive stance.

I hope her shyness eases up soon. She loves being out, especially around other kids but she is too frightened to play with them. After an hour or so she ventures out a bit but usually plays by herself. She is quite observant and knows what is happening with everyone all the time. The other day at the chiropractor she took a boys car (I had no idea, I thought it was an office toy). She played with it for awhile, until the boy was leaving. She grabbed my hand and ran after him to give it back. She was super shy and wouldn't even look at him as she held the car out, but I was impressed with her gesture as well as her awareness that it was his.

Keeping an eye on the other kids as she finger paints at Playgroup.

Watching the kids play at her cousins birthday party.

Willow's favorite toys lately are arts and crafts. She loves her water colour paints. She colours, paints with water and loves play doh. She just got some construction paper with scissors and glue and spent all morning cutting paper into small bits. She also loves the sand box, helping me garden and digging in dirt. I love that she loves getting dirty outside but also twirls when she has a pretty skirt on. She's girly by nature, but isn't afraid to get dirty to have fun.



*Love*

Mo-mo

Mo-mo is Willow's pacifier. I can't wait to be rid of it!

She became attached to it at 15 months when she weaned. I don't think she was ready to wean, and picked the paci from her toy box where up until then it had been for her dolls. Oooops. From that day on, mo-mo is not just a pacifier, but a lovey. Her favorite toy. Someone to talk to.

Willow in July 2010, with the original Mo-mo

She only used it to sleep until a few months back when I was too busy to take it away from her first thing in the morning. Amazingly, mo-mo lost his charm over the day. I thought I'd found a solution. So I let her have mo-mo all day long (except when we were out). Wow, did that ever backfire. She became more attached than ever and we've had a hard time getting back to using mo-mo only to sleep.

Today was the first non-mo-mo day. In the morning we made a little bed for mo-mo. We got mo-mo a blanket. We closed up mo-mo's bed box, and put him to sleep. A bit of whining, but I'd say a success. Willow was very excited to wake mo-mo up this evening before she went to bed.

Sometimes I don't even see Mo-mo anymore, and it ruins some nice shots.

So what's the next step? I have no idea. I'm going to stick to the no mo-mo during waking hours and hope that decreases her dependence. In the meantime, I'll have to think of a little game we can play to keep mo-mo busy at nap time and night time too.

Oh- and the name, Mo-mo? I don't know where it came from exactly. There was a sesame street doll at Willow's daycare (my sisters place) that had a pacifier. The doll would say "ma-ma" when the pacifier came out of it's mouth. I think Willow thought it was saying "more-more" and she started saying that when she wanted her pacifier. "More-more" sounded like "Mo-mo" at the time, so I just went with it.