Ella and the Noodle Fairy

I've been so busy these past few weeks that I haven't had a chance to report on a momentous occasion at our house: the arrival of the noodle fairy.

Ella was down to four pacifiers. Two had holes. A few weeks ago, she woke up and told me that her other two pacifiers had holes in them. She was very matter-of-fact about it, which surprised me considering that the kid is FOUR and still using pacifiers--she's pretty well attached (more on why we didn't take them away sooner below).

We made plans to have the noodle fairy come that night. The premise was that the noodle fairy would take the noodles and leave Ella a "big girl" present. Over the course of the day, Ella negotiated to keep the noodles because she likes to rub them on things (it's a comfort thing). Fine. I knew she wouldn't suck them if they had holes, so I figured it didn't matter.

I end up having to make a mad dash to Big K for the noodle fairy present. We live walking-distance from K-Mart, but I normally avoid it like the plague. It's the kind of place where you ALWAYS end up behind someone who is trying to pay for a $20 total in pennies. Or behind someone trying to haggle over prices. People: The price on the price tag IS the price. It's a shocking concept, I know. But really? You're shopping at K-Mart. It's not like the stuff is that expensive to begin with.... As it happened, the two men in line behind me were WASTED (it was 10:00 in the morning, and they reeked of alcohol) and were purchasing a purple bunny that was as tall as I am.

Anyhow, Ella went to bed without incident, which shocked and amazed me. First night without a pacifier in four years. Noodle fairy came. Left a Cinderella doll.

Three weeks later: Ella is sucking her thumb full-time. Which just goes to show who the smartest person in our house is. Ella ended up with four "rubees" (which is what she is calling the ruined pacifiers), a Cinderella doll, and a new bad habit. Score? Ella: 3; Noodle Fairy: 0.

Reason we didn't take the pacifier away sooner? The dentist said that if there was a chance Ella would subsitute thumb-sucking for the pacifier, he'd rather have her use a pacifier as long as we got rid of it by age five. Since I was pretty sure she would start sucking her thumb if we took away the pacifiers, she kept the pacifiers. Until they all ended up with holes. Now I just have to figure out a way to put a hole in her thumb....

Etymology of noodle: Noodle started out as Nuk, which is what my aunt called a pacifier with her kids. Ella changed it to Nuki when she started to talk. Sadie change it to NoNo when she started to talk, which sounded like Noodle. And there you have it.

Little-Known Fact: I sucked my thumb until I was in second or third grade. So it's sort of hard for me to give Ella a hard time about it. If anyone wants to donate funds to the "Ella will definitely need braces" fund, just let me know.