Goal Accomplished!!

Sweetie Heart was born a thumb sucker. I honestly believe that she sucked her thumb in utero. She picked it up very quickly, she never did like pacifiers. But then again I never really hung in there with them. I don't have the patience to keep putting a pacifier in when it keeps getting spit out. Sweet Girl never took a pacifier, but she never sucked her thumb either. Hence my theory on in utero habit formation.

Anyway, for the past couple of years we have been working on breaking the habit. It's a tough habit to break. I should know. I was 9 when I finally stopped sucking my thumb. I did it so I could get braces. I wanted braces. Little did I know I would be in some sort of orthodontia until I was a senior in high school. Peeps, that's a loooong time and by the end I was none to happy about it. But that's a different story all together.

So last year we started really trying to encourage and help her stop. We reminded, we badgered, we begged, we bribed. We put band aids on her thumbs as a reminder and that worked pretty well during the day, but at night she just sucked them with the band aids on! We finally found something that she really wanted. She wanted her ears pierced! Bad!! So at the end of the summer we told her we would do that after she had stopped for 14 days.

Sweetie Heart really wanted them pierce before school started so we marked the day on the calendar. That day passed. So did many, many others. Mostly, she sucked her thumb when she was bored, upset, or sleeping, but I know she was doing it at school some, too.

I forgot about the bribes and moved on. I knew that she would do it when she was ready and not a minute sooner. So we waited. And something happened. About 3 weeks ago we went to the dentist. I didn't say anything about the thumb sucking. He had the last time, but there is no point beating a dead horse so I let it be. But she came home and said I'm not sucking my thumb anymore. Okay, I've heard that before, but I encouraged her. There were a couple of days with some false starts. But she got it! It had to be 14 day in a row, so if on day 13 she sucked her thumb she would have to start over. we were keeping track by putting stickers on my calendar and all was well. She was in charge of telling me how it was going. One night, on day 10, Webby went in to check on the girls before bed. She had she thumb in her mouth. He pulled it out easily and she didn't even know she had done it. So we talked to her about it and told her that we were going to overlook it because she was doing so well and it was unconscious. It hadn't been happening the other nights so we know it was just an accident.

Last Saturday was the day! She was so excited! We went to a small place, not the mall. There was a young girl there who did the piercing. She was very good. With the first earring she winced a little, but it was fast and the girl just went right on with the next one. She didn't wait to ask if she was okay or wanted to wait, just did the second one. It was perfect! Bing, bang, boom and it was done! Here are the pictures I promised.