God made Everything...even thumbs

Back before I had a child, you know in the day when I knew everything, I was determined that my child would never "get used" to needing a pacifier, and I would most certainly not have a thumb-sucking child. Heaven's no!

Then came the early days of sleepless nights, sleepless days...and general sleeplessness. And, my oh my the crying. Everyone in the house did a whole lot of crying those first few weeks, but Bayli took the cake. We became desperate, we tried everything, spending probably close to $100 trying to find a pacifier the child would take. We shoved everything in her mouth in an attempt to get her to suck it...we put her thumb, her fingers, her whole fist...possibly even a foot on occasion. Anything to end the crying and to get her to stop the incessant crying. All to no avail.

Somehow we all made it through, and fastforwarding about 6 months; one day we watched her study her hands for quite some time. Then all of a sudden she put her right thumb in her mouth and the rest is history.

And, for someone who did not want a thumb sucking child, I must say...it melted my heart. I still think it's one of the most precious sights in the world...watching a sleepy baby sucking their thumb as they drift off to a peaceful sleep. We knew that we should stop it then, but she was a baby, and it was so cute...so we let it ride. All the while in the back of my mind I kept telling myself that we'll break it when she's about 2. That should be simple enough.

On Bayli's 2nd birthday, I was just 2 weeks past learning we'd lost our 2nd baby. It was a hard time, and she was still a baby herself, so I decided we'd let it go a little longer. After all, she was growing so much and so fast every day, this kept her more of a baby. We decided that it was ok for her to suck her thumb only while sleeping for naps and bedtime. Any other time we'd find her sucking it, we'd make her stop. For some reason I kept thinking that 4 years old was my cut off. 4 is the limit, too old to keep sucking your thumb.

Now she's 4. And she's my only baby still...And, it still melts my heart, and I still think it's sweet, and she only does it for about the first 15 minutes of sleep. But I know it's time. And the dentist confirmed it at her last appointment.

She's been asking for a pink ballerina room. So, we figured that might be some good ammunition to work with. We'll encourage her to stop sucking her thumb and when she masters it completely, we'll give her the pink ballerina room of her choice.

She went along with the plans quite nicely for the entire first day of the "new plan". We even went to Lowe's to pick out some paint chips, just for some tangible incentive. But as bedtime approached she started crawfishing big-time. And as I tucked her in that night, I prayed with her that God would give her strength to help beat this habit. And I prayed scripture over her, "Bayli can do all things through Christ who strengthens her!" It was looking good, until she turned over and said, "Mommy, in Club Faith we learned that God made everything." Stupid Mommy, not even realizing I'm being set up here, pipes up with "That's right honey...God did make everything. And He made all things good and perfect." So, my 4 year old, that's going on 14 replies, "Yes, Mommy...even thumbs. God made thumbs...and they're good. So I'm going to keep sucking mine until I'm older. We'll just wait on the pink room, ok?"

Now, what do you do with that my friends?