Cold Turkey

I am proud...and slightly sad...to say that miss Abby has decided to give up sucking her thumb. It's been four and a half years straight of thumb sucking and hair twirling (once she got hair). Yes, I said slightly sad. It's a bit heart tugging when you see your little ones grow up and change. She started preschool this year and each time she gets sick, I explain to her that if she stopped sucking her thumb she might not get sick as much. She hates...and I do mean hates...being sick. Even though her colds are insignificant compared to the doozies that Alex seems to get, she despises having a runny nose. She gets that from her dad, I believe. Josh hates colds too. When I get a cold, I just deal better than Josh does for some reason. Probably because I pick up every single cold on the planet. (Thanks for nothing, you sorry excuse of an immune system!) Anyhow, telling her this seemed to make her consider the possibility of giving up her trusty and ever faithful thumb. It wasn't enough though so she continued to pop that bad boy in her mouth just as often as she always did.

Then the new baby came along and something in my little daughter shifted. She's became outgoing and a little bit more crazy than before. Her teacher commented on how different she has become since Evie was born. Josh and I both notice the big changes she's been going through. So about two weeks after becoming a big sister, I nonchalantly asked her if she was going to quit sucking her thumb now that she is a big sister. She said she wanted to quit. I was shocked and told her she could go pick a toy at the store for giving it up if she didn't suck it for a week. She counted down those days one by one and on the last day she picked a new Barbie (that came with a horse of course). The first two days were hard on her. She kept putting it in her mouth and then quickly popping it out when she realized it. When I noticed, she'd say, "I'm not sucking it mom. I'm just cleaning it off." The first two nights she also chose to still suck it at night to help her go to sleep. But that didn't last very long. She now hugs her stuffed animals while she sleeps to help her remember (her words, not mine). So for the most part, she went cold turkey. I'm proud of the girl. It was a challenge, but she succeeded wonderfully. Needless to say, she's as proud as can be too. Today she had to get a small cavity filled and the dentist made a big deal of her thumb and gave her two prizes. She was pretty happy and did fantastic getting a filling done. What a trooper that girl is! The dentist said she did amazing for a kid her age. Didn't even flinch at the needle! Heck...she did better than I do! Way to go Abby! You're a big girl now.