Gnomes? Elves? Fairies?

My daughter has a blankie that we are slowly weaning her from. We have reduced its role to bedtime and trauma. But this faded rainbow blankie, she is not the first.

The first blankie was Bella’s swaddling blanket. It was a light pink, and in sections a nasty nicotine-stained wet brown from her chewing and teething on it. I swear we were not letting her smoke.

Alas, between the toxic spit and bleach it became a choking-hazard rag. I had to switch it out with the safe, clean rainbow blanket. I told her the fairies took the pink blankie away to fix it. From time to time she asks me when the fairies are going to bring it back.

Obviously, I am that blankie fairy and I will return it to her when she goes off to college. But I’m beginning to wonder if such fairies do exist. Because I can’t figure what has happened to my butter knives. I am down to about 5 butter knives. This is absurd as I have two sets of silverware currently employed in my kitchen. In fact, I have so many spoons they are overflowing. The forks are stacked high in the drawer, even when the dishwasher is full. But the butter knives are MIA.

Maybe there are butter knife fairies? Maybe they need them to knit blankies back together? Perhaps gnomes have come along and turned some of those butter knives into forks and spoons, this would explain the overflow. It is quite perplexing, because it is just Bella and I in the house and we don’t cook. If we don’t use them, then how did they get lost? Did the dishwasher eat them like the wash machine eats our socks?