Thumbs Up!

After years of suggesting, nagging and bribing we have finally succeeded in having a thumb free household! This is truly a huge accomplishment for us. We were blessed with wonderful babies who could put themselves to sleep and soothe themselves by using their wonderful thumbs. This was always cute in a way. Claire did the hook, with her index finger over her nose while her thumb was in her mouth. Emma did the not so cute, index finger in her nostril while her thumb was in her mouth and well Sam, we just pretty much thought anything he did was cute. The interesting thing with Sam was that he is left handed and sucked his left thumb so we knew his habit would be easier to break once he started writing and doing more with this hands. However cute it was, it had lasted too long. Claire stopped when she was 4 so we were way behind with the middle child!

Okay, enough thumb history! Emma was pouring over the American Girl catalog a little over a month ago choosing lots of outfits she wanted. I said, "Emma, what are you going to do with all those outfits? I think you need to get a doll first." Grandma Lorene has been promising her a doll for about a year if she stopped sucking her thumb. She instantly said, "Mom, I want to try the band-aid again." So there we were again wrapping her thumb in a band-aid and seeing if she would keep it on and keep it dry or out of her mouth. I was not hopeful because we had been down this road before. The next day, little Sam wanted to join in and 30 days later here we are! We did some dollar store prizes, painted fingernails and lots of encouraging words along the way. We also prayed for self control and motivation to continue.

So here are some pictures of Emma and her American Girl Doll, Elizabeth Cole. She loves her and it is really great that both of the girls are into these now. They have played with their hair endlessly since Wednesday night. Sam got a playmobil castle and dragon which have also proved to be hours of fun. I feel like it is Christmas early! Maybe overboard, but we have really been waiting for this day for a LONG time!