Breaking Habits

I have to admit when you see a baby sucking it's thumb it's cute and innocent. Ayla was just two and a half months when she discovered her thumb. I thought it was so sweet how she would fall asleep with her thumb falling out of her mouth as she fell into her nightly coma. I was also grateful that I could take her anywhere knowing that if she ever got fussy she would have her trusty friend right there. It was also nice because she kept losing her pacifier. I was, at the time, ok with the thumb-sucking.

However, it had become her life. Morning, noon and night.

I was loathing the day we would have to separate the relationship between Ayla and her thumb. The idea was exhausting. Ayla and her thumb were BFF's. They shared everything together from morning cartoons to riding in the car to bed time. And when we tried to separate the two it was all out war. Mission impossible.

Within the last couple of years Ayla had also developed a habit of holding some one's hand and flicking their finger nail to the point of severe discomfort while sucking her thumb. Every time that thumb would go in her mouth she had to have a hand to hold. It progressively got worse as time went on. We almost didn't enjoy holding hands with our little girl. Sad, right?

But something Magical happened. A miracle of sorts.

Last week we went to Disneyland and for four days straight I swear that thumb was super glued to her mouth. I think she was overwhelmed by everything. It started to get really annoying and I tried with all my might to get her to stop. I told her her thumb would fall off. I told her that she was going to have bugs in her belly. And even though I don't condone name calling I called her a baby. Hey, I was desperate.

Our last day at Disneyland Ayla wakes up and the first thing she says is "I'm not going to suck my thumb today". Steve and I looked at each other, laughed and was like yeah right, sure you won't. Then she says "I really want to learn how to not suck my thumb anymore". So, I told her that if she didn't suck her thumb all day that she could pick out any reward she wanted.

It has been seven days since Ayla has sucked her thumb! It's my Make-A-Wish dream come true. She quit cold turkey. Not an easy thing for a kid. I am so amazed by her self control and determination at her age. I am beyond proud of her and believe me when I say she makes it a point to remind us at least 6 times a day that she's not sucking her thumb anymore. She is also very proud of herself. I knew I had a special little girl that still seems to surprise me.