Goodbye Thumb Sucker!

Olivia has officially quit sucking her thumb! I went to California for my nephew's wedding on October 27th and spent a very fun long weekend with my brothers and sisters as well as my niece and her sweet daughter and son. Grace, my niece's daughter is about 6 months younger than Olivia and so much fun. I really enjoyed hanging out with her and found her to be so engaging, talkative and fun. She actually made me realize how much Olivia is tuned out because she's sucking her thumb when she's tired, bored or when we are driving around town. When I returned from the wedding, I talked to Olivia about what it would take for her to stop sucking her thumb. We've raised it with her before several times and it's always resulted in her crying or saying she can't stop. The last time I talked to her about it, she said she would quit if she could get a bunny! Since I know how cute bunnies are and how much work they are, I knew that she would enjoy the cute and I would take care of the rest. So, I told her that was off the table.

When I raised it after my return from the wedding, she was ready to talk about it! Finally she agreed to stopping if I promised to take her and her two best friends, Hannah and Cora to lunch at Rainforest Cafe and buy each of them a stuffed animal. I agreed and we did a pinkie promise. From that moment on, she actually didn't suck her thumb! She had to stop herself a few times, but I was impressed by her awareness of it and her focus on not putting it in her mouth! At first, we thought about letting her suck her thumb to go to sleep, but once we put her in bed for the first night she was really good about not sucking it! So, we decided not to mention it. Ever since that first conversation, she has been amazing at not sucking her thumb and we've never had to remind her not to suck it. One morning a few days after she quit, I woke her up for school and she was sucking it. She immediately removed her thumb and was obviously upset at herself. Since then we've never seen her suck her thumb! So, now I need to organize a Rain Forest lunch with her sweet friends! We are so proud of our girl and know it must have been hard for her to quit!

Here are several of the photos of Olivia sucking her thumb over the years...they are in particular order, but sure are cute!