Being a big kid has lots of perks. Mitchell would tell you it's fun because you can do things that babies can't do, like play with puzzles, play at the park, have toys with small parts and eat yummy foods.
What sucks, quite frankly, about being a big kid: Mom and Dad make you stick to your word that you won't suck your thumb anymore.
Now, this is no small task for us as parents. The only time MJ sucks his thumb is when he's sleeping- at nap and bedtime. It's hard to enforce a rule when you generally aren't there when the offense is occuring. My dear friend, who also works in early childhood, suggested cutting the fingers out of gloves, but keeping the thumbs covered. This was perfect. Can't get to the thumb, but he could still feel the comfort of "the bumpiest lovey." Night one: success. Night two, he took them off. Night three: we put them back on when we went bed. Night 4: He kept them on (with the promise of a new hot wheels car). Night 5: He kept them on! So I figure, we're on the right track.
Silly me. Then the weekend came. The poor boy cried for 1.5 hours at nap because he wanted to suck his thumb (clearly, we need gloves at daycare too). Finally, a drink of water broke the pattern of crying enough that he rolled over and went straight to sleep. Last night, the gloves stayed on! Today at nap...well, the gloves stayed on, but there was no nap. Which now has me wondering if ditching the thumb means ditching the nap...
For our pretty easy-going kid, this hurdle is a tough one for him. We didn't struggle with sleep or potty training, so I guess we were bound to have something that was more challenging. I just hope we all make it through without picking up another bad habit!
0 comments:
Post a Comment