After 6 weeks of waiting for the nail to fall off, last bight it had flopped to a place where we had to cut it. Do you remember the injury?She hit her toenail on the door as Daddy was opening it. Well, we have tried to prepare her for the day we would need to cut it but she was terrified! We sat in her room last night for 45 minutes trying to get her to be ok with it. Daddy lead the mission and was able to keep her calm and work her through her anxiety. She sat in my arms snuggling with me and I could feel her tense body relaxing.
At the half hour mark I had reached my patience level and suggested to Rodney that I just sit on her and clip it while she screamed. He didn't think that was a good idea. Thank goodness for his calmer judgment. He stepped out with Edie who was cranky because of her bedtime too and came back with an idea. He began telling a story about when he was a kid and lost his toenail and...this is where the magic happened...he told her there was a toenail fairy.
Funny? Yes, But genius too!! We told her how it worked and adjusted the rules as we gauged her comfort level. For instance, the idea of a fairy peaking under her pillow while she slept, freaked her out. Plus, the idea of her sleeping on her toenail grossed us out. SO...the alternative story was to put the toenail in an envelope and leave it in the living room. She asked what the fairy would do with it and we tried to hold back laughter and that gross face again as we said we didn't really know BUT, "you get a treasure in its place!!!" Thank goodness distraction still works.
The process was documented although the pics are a bit fuzzy. Lucy took the next three as we were trying to distract her.
Right before she felt like she needed to hold onto Daddy so she snuggled with him instead of sitting in the chair. 
The envelope with nail inside.
The new bare toe.
The happy dance.At 4am she came into our room quietly sobbing holding a pair of Edie's pj's. When we finally got her to slow down, we heard her say, "The fairy only left a pair of Edie's Pj's!!" The clean laundry was on the couch where she left her envelope. Daddy went out with her to find the envelope which had a 50 cent piece in it. She was very happy, crawled into bed with us and slept with her coin. Aaahhh...all better now.
2 comments:
My sides are hurting from laughing. Oh the joys of being Gramma!
Toe nail fairy? I don't think so. He had brothers to sit on him and do the surgery.
You guys are sooooo creative. I don't think I would have ever thought of a toe nail fairy.
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