Kate's a Big Girl

It's official. Our resident thumb sucker is no more!

I went back through the years of pictures I have of Miss Kate and took a few to illustrate the deep love she had of her thumb. She found it when she was 4 months old and we kicked the habit two years later.

It served us well, helped her sleep and was her ultimate comfort. You can't deny she was pretty darn cute with it too! But it was altering her upper bite and that just bothered me so much as a dental hygienist.

We have been prepping Kate for a few months now. Always telling her that she is a big girl, to take her thumb out of her mouth and we would make it fun by making a popping sound as we demonstrated popping our thumb out of our mouth. It got to the point where we could just do the hand motion and she would take it out. And then put it right back in again. 

Max started putting his thumb in his mouth so he could get the positive attention too. Even now, Max will get a mischievous glint in his eye and put his thumb in his mouth while grinning at you so you can tease him, "Max, are you a big girl?" He laughs and does it over and over again so we will take his thumb out of his mouth. Silly kid. 

My friend Kathryn, mother extraordinaire, mother of multiple multiples (two sets of twin girls), had posted about breaking her 2 year-olds' habit by using the bitter nail polish this past summer. She shared her experience of whiny toddlers, interrupted sleep and naps, gagging children as they ate their meals, vomiting, etc. Basically she scared the crap out of me! I knew how attached Kate was to her thumb and I didn't think I could endure all of the above, especially with a coming newborn. I didn't want to make any big changes with a new baby coming, that was change enough for all of us. I kept putting it off and said we would really address it when she could communicate better, after Rhett was born, maybe she would give it up herself...

A few weeks ago I bought the polish one night while grocery shopping. "Let's do this!" I thought. I brought it home, put it on the counter, went to bed. The next morning Phil asked if I was going to do it.Overnight I already had mixed feelings, it seemed so cruel to just trick her like that. Pull her security blanket right out from under her. So I waited through the morning mulling it over.

After her nap we put it on. She loves to paint her toes and I felt mean tricking her as I painted it nice and thick on her thumb. We blew on it so it would dry and she hopped off my lap. 

I watched. Waited. She put it in her mouth. 

Her face crinkled up in disgust and she hurried over to the table to get her water. Gulp, gulp! She washed the taste out of her mouth and tried again with the same results. But she kept her thumb out the rest of the afternoon. I watched her throughout the day. She would subconsciously put her thumb to her mouth and then remember and take it out. It was working!

She did well that night and I put another coat on before she went to bed. The next few days we had some rough naps. She screamed and screamed. Totally out of character for her and she tested my patience to the limit! In the heat of the "battle" I was so frustrated with her behavior but once I removed myself from the situation I knew that she was acting out because she had lost her self-soothing mechanism and she didn't know what to do with herself. 

We painted her thumb for a few more days and then I stopped to see if she would do it on her own, without it. She has done great! We only used the polish for about one week and haven't had any big problems. She did go through a short period where she was picking at her face. We noticed that she still has the urge/desire/habit to have her thumb sucking hand close to her mouth and face. They have finally healed and she has left her face alone so far. She now screams a lot more and drives us all crazy with her emotional self and dramatic mood swings when things don't go her way but we are so proud of her!

Phil and I have both noticed an improvement in her teeth already. Hooray!

(Taken this afternoon)

She now takes it upon herself to make sure Rhett is being a big boy.

Good job Kate! We love you, drama, sweetness, sass and all. You are such a big girl!