The Thumb is Not Happy...But Mommy is...

Our middle child is a thumb sucker...an equal opportunity sucker. It doesn't matter to her which thumb. She gladly puts either one in her mouth all day and night. In her sleep, you can remove the thumb from her mouth, and her arm acts like it has a spring in it. The thumb automatically pops back in.

Last week, we paid another visit to the orthodontist. He is a lovely man who tries very hard to make corrective procedures comfortable and fun for children. He decided some time ago that measures were going to have to be taken to stop Ella from sucking her thumb. We just completed phase one of "operation cease and desist the thumb sucking."

After nearly a week of this lovely contraption in her mouth, she is not sucking her thumb. I am choosing to treat this like a substance abuse situation though. An addict is still an addict even if they are not using. The behavior still exists, so I took away her pillow - Spiky. She holds Spiky in her arms and sucks her thumb. She has had the pillow since she was a baby, and she drags it everywhere! Some children have a teddy bear or blanket; Ella has a pillow. He (yes, she claims it's a boy) used to be bright blue and white ticking, and now he is white all over from years of washing. She is not happy with me for signing the consent form or for taking away Spiky, but when she grows up and has a beautiful smile, she will thank me for this. At least...that's what I keep telling myself.