the shoe fairy

last night madelyn had a visit from the shoe fairy. see the shoe fairy comes when little girls outgrow their shoes and trades them for a present. madelyn was not very excited about saying goodbye to her "brown shoes", but she was excited about a present.

since she was overtired we decided not to make a big deal about her putting the shoes out for the shoe fairy in the hope of avoiding a total meltdown. instead i took her shoes off in the car because she was complaining about her feet hurting - this has been a common theme lately.

i had a puzzle that i was planning on giving to her for her birthday or as a big sister present so this became our shoe fairy gift. i wrapped it up and put it outside of her room for her to find when she woke up in the morning. i was awoken this morning to the rustle of paper and remembered that madelyn had a present waiting for her. she was so excited to have a present all for her!

as we were getting ready to leave this morning i asked madelyn which shoes she wanted to wear. her response? "brown shoes." after reminding her about her present from the shoe fairy for taking the brown shoes she willingly picked from the shoes in her closet and let me put them on! not only that, but she brought them to me saying that she was going to wear "flip flops like mommy. they have beautiful flowers on them!" i was so, so, so excited! and daddy and i praised her selection and told her how great she looked with the new shoes on.

here is a picture of madelyn happily wearing her flip-flops while playing with her new puzzle from the shoe fairy. love.

(thanks to our friend, tina, for the excellent suggestion of the shoe fairy!)