It all happened so fast, without preparation, without a true plan in place.
It started on Thursday night when for some reason Coach and I had a few brief comments regarding the Gi Gi and how it was time for Mimzy to let it go. I quickly joked that the Gi Gi Fairy would be coming to take it away and we both laughed. I had tried to have this conversation with Mimzy before. I told her that the Gi Gi Fairy would come and take the Gi Gi's and give them to the little babies that did not have any. She was less than thrilled with this idea and frankly did not give a damn about the little babies with no Gi Gi's. If I remember correctly she even told me that they needed to get their own. Those babies could not have her Gi Gi's! Well, I lightly brought the subject up again and to my astonishment Mimzy was thrilled with this idea. She wanted to do it right then and there. I had to slow her down a bit. I knew she needed more preparation. Especially because at that moment she was simply excited that the Gi Gi Fairy would bring her a present if she gave up her Gi Gi's. But I promised her that we would do it the next day.
So the next morning Mimzy reminded me of her present so she and I ventured to our beloved Target. We looked at the toys for an hour and decided that she would get a special gift from Mommy and Daddy for being brave. Tonight was going to be a big night for her, she was going to say good-bye to her friend forever.
Mimzy chose a fun water table and a few toys to accompany it. We rushed home and set it up. She was absolutely excited.
She played with it for awhile but the time came when she started feeling a little tired and so the time came when the "withdrawal" began to creep in. She began whimpering for her friend and asking if she could have it. I gently told her that if we gave it her then we would need to take her table back to the store. There was some whimpering for about 15 more minutes but she eventually moved past it and became excited about the Gi Gi Fairy's planned visit for that evening.
We went on about our day. Going to watch Chase play in his first soccer tournament and having dinner with Grammy. It was late when we finally ventured home. Mimzy was definitely exhausted. I knew it could be a tough night for her and tried to decide how to best handle it. I made a comfy bed for her on the floor in our bedroom and had her lay down. She inevitably began requesting to have her trusty friend back. Rather then trying to reason with her or go over the Gi Gi Fairy visit I simply remained quiet but stayed with her. She comically but quietly chanted "Gi Gi? Gi Gi? Gi Gi?" for about 15 minutes until she finally passed out.
At about 5:00 the trauma set in. She woke up and to put it simply she FREAKED OUT! She started screaming and crying "Where is my Gi Gi? I want my Gi Gi". I coaxed her into our bed and again said nothing about the Gi Gi. I just held her hand until she fell back to sleep.
I awoke at 7:00 and realized that I needed to do something in order for her to be okay with this thief that came in the night to take away her best friend. I snuck out of bed while everyone else was sleeping and jetted off to the closest open store. I found myself wandering bleary eyed through Wal-mart hoping to find something that would suffice. I decided upon a new "cozy" (aka...I really soft and fluffy blanket), a card and a package of princess stickers. I wrote a message from the fairy in the card and arranged everything on the table for her to find. I jumped in the shower and then heard the bathroom door open with a bang and heard Mimzy cry out for her old friend. I gently told her that I would be out in a minute to help her. I was barely out and able to dress before she was furiously demanding her Gi Gi. I walked downstairs with her and we discovered the gift together. We opened the card and read it and I explained that her Gi Gi was gone. The Fairy had come in the night and taken it to the babies just as we discussed. She was surprisingly excited about this. About her card and her new cozy. She could not wait to tell Coach. She even woke up The Creep. She carried her cozy, card and stickers to Grammy's to show everyone. Happy ending right? Not quite. We had one more massive challenge ahead.
Saturday night was by far the worse. We were again out late due to the tournament. Mimzy was exhausted and crying for her Gi Gi on the way home. I settled her into bed with me, I could tell this was going to be a rough night. She cried, she begged, she pleaded. She told me to take her special toy back to the store. She told me she did not want her cozy. She wanted her Gi Gi back!!!!!! I knew she was not to be reasoned with so I simply waited out the screams and tears and rubbed her back to calm her down. She finally did and again held my hand until she fell asleep.
The next morning....it was over. We were done. She had finally let go. Let go of her faithful and trusty friend and embraced her new found freedom.
I was expecting much worse. I wondered why I had not done this sooner. Why had I let it go on so long. The truth is that I was not ready. I was not ready to let go of the innocence and baby like quality the Gi Gi brought to both of us. The comfort it brought to both of us. We both needed to be ready. She needed to be ready and willing to let go of her friend. I needed to be ready to let go of my baby and embrace my little girl.
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