Thumb Wars

Well, we started. Lucie and I went to the store yesterday. She picked out her very own super soft lovey puppy that she named "Snowman". He's cute. It was a hard decision to make. She vacillated between a yellow lion, a soft brown monkey and of course the puppy. Snowman beat out the competition. We are hoping they become fast friends. We are hoping that he will help her go to sleep at night and cheer her up when she is feeling sad. Is that too much to ask? Then we went home and smeared this stuff on her thumbs (this product came highly recommended by a friend) and put a band-aid on each one. As a visual and tactile reminder that if she puts her thumbs in her mouth she will experience something very nasty. Normally she sucks her right thumb, but in a pinch either one will do. So we have to treat both thumbs equally. After a few hours she begged me to take the band-aids off. I did. She put her thumb in her mouth. A horrible gasp followed, accompanied by a yucky face and the immediate removal of her thumb. Then she begged me to put some new band-aids on.

She did really well all day. I was anxious to see what would happen come night fall. She really struggled to get herself to sleep. She just didn't seem to know what to do. After all, she's been best friends with that thumb since the day she was born I imagine. At one point, she sat up calmly and asked "Why can't I suck my thumb?" It was very matter-of-fact. She just couldn't remember why I was putting her through all of this. I explained it to her again. You are big now. Big girls shouldn't suck their thumbs. She said "I not big. I a baby." But as if admitting defeat, she rolled over and tried once again to go to sleep. Heaven help me.