The other day when Henry told me that when I grew up I “could be a daddy just like Jason”, my first thought was, “I can’t wait to put that in a post somewhere”.
And that’s when I realized that I love to write and such a huge part of me is missing when I don’t update my blog. So I am here picking up wherever and whenever I can and knowing that like a good friend, we can just pick up where we left off in high school.
Tight roll those jeans and let’s go.
Eliza Jane {Jane because it just goes; maybe like Matilda Jane? I don’t know… it goes} is a thumb sucker. The boys have both been big passy fans, so I’m not quite sure what to do with this little gal. {Henry still has his passy to go to sleep and also has them hidden around the house and I know when he’s quiet that he’s off somewhere sucking that passy. He’s a sucka- a passy sucka.} She LOVES her thumb-y. And we happen to think that whatever she does is cute.
She sucks her thumb to go to sleep. She is not partial to a specific thumb- left, right, hers, yours- whatever. She sucks her thumb when she’s bored. She sucks her thumb to show you she cares {maybe}. She sucks her thumb in between bites of rice cereal. I have a theory that it’s a little salty and a little pinch is just all she needs to get by.
You get the idea- she’s a sucka- a thumb sucka.
Here’s my dilemma: it’s so stinkin cute now, but it’s not going to be that cute when the orthodontist hands me the bill. My dentist cousin told me at Christmas that they make some sort of device that they put in the roof of kids’ mouths now that scrapes their thumb or something similar if they suck their thumb. {This kind of torture is reserved for children who are older and need to break the habit somehow, I am assuming. Waterboarding your own child is the next step, I think.}
Obviously I don’t want to get to that level, but when do I stop thinking it’s cute and start pulling that chewed up thumb out of her mouth? Is there a rule about it? Clearly, I don’t follow said rules {since I just admitted my 3 year old hides passies}, but I need to know when to start feeling guilty about it. This is a whole new area of guilt-to-be for me.
*This picture completely and totally a picture of a picture from Eliza’s 4 month panel. Taken by the lovely and talented Melissa Tash, of course.
Thoughts, please {if anyone in the world is reading besides Melissa’s attorneys??}?
About Hillary
I can give no advice because my 7 yo son still sometimes sticks his thumb in his mouth! My current baby was a temporary thumb sucker, he’s already outgrown it in favor of a pacifier at 8 months old. Good luck!
nicole´s last blog ..You Capture- Holiday Favorites
Good switch on the passy. I’m pretty sure she’ll spit it at us a la some you tube videos, but I might give it a shot! Thanks, Nicole! I always appreciate your comments!!
Hillary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Thumbs Up
I never had a thumb sucker so I can’t help- but I have to say I’m madly in love with this baby! She is the CUTEST thing EVER! Oh my goodness- I love her sucking her wittle thumb. Precious angel!
You are so sweet, D. Thank YOU!! We are, too.
I am still SICK that we missed our get together. SICK of the SICK!! Hope you all are much better.
Love you to pieces. What about a Valentine’s cookie party?? Maybe that should be our new tradition??
Hillary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Thumbs Up
Hi. Background info first: My husband will graduate from UAB’s dental school in 5 months. Then he’ll go on to an Orthodontic residency in Tennessee. Also, my oldest daughter (now 3) sucked her thumb. My youngest (almost 2) sucks her middle two fingers (ring finger and bird flipper). So, I’m speaking from personal and professional opinion here. Thumb sucking (as far as oral development is concerned) is no different than pacifier sucking. Neither signifies that your child will later need braces unless they continue to suck after their adult teeth have come in. If you allow your child to suck anything consistently with adult teeth, they will have growth problems. With my thumb sucker, potty training and toddler bed happened at about the same time (2 1/2 years). We told her that she was a “big girl” now and she didn’t need her thumb. She went from sucking when nervous or shy to only sucking in bed in about 3 or 4 months. She still sucks in bed. Once we move her into a twin bed (at almost 4 years), I’ll work on stopping the thumb all together. In my opinion, if you tell your child to stop, instead of suggesting or asking, they will do as you say. (That is, if you’ve taught them to trust you and obey.) I plan to do the same thing with my younger, lining up removing the thumb with other milestones.
Sorry for the novel. May I’ll copyright the movie rights.
Kelly Bolerjack´s last blog ..A Quilt for Charlotte
Love this info, Kelly! Thank you!! That makes me feel much better!
Have to go get the aforementioned holy terror out of time out… 
Yes- we try to go in stages, too, but Henry has been the poor sidetracked child since I started a business and was either uber pregnant or had a newborn when we would usually potty train and take passies away. I’ll get there… eventually! And he went to a big boy bed without the first hint of a problem! So, hopefully it won’t be as bad as I’m dreading it is.
Hillary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Thumbs Up
You blogged! You really blogged!
I have no advice for you, sadly. A didn’t really suck her thumb or a pacifier, so I lucked out. So…instead of advice (which I’m normally so full of) I’ll just say how stinking CUTE your little Eliza Jane is! How cute? SO CUTE!
Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect´s last blog ..Monday Morning Mmmm- Marilyn’s Apple Cake
Love you! Thank you!!! Can’t wait to see you soon!
Hillary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Thumbs Up
Hill-
My girl never took a passy or sucked fingers, but the youngest sucked his fingers every chance he got for the first few months…. he quit it all on his own at around 6 or 7 months I think…. It may just be something that passes, hopefully!! Please don’t put a scraper in that little punkin’s mouth!! (Unless you are able to use it on cold mornings like this, and if you’re like me, it would be the only scraper you have nearby!!) i’m sure it’s something to outgrow, so just enjoy the cuteness for now (til she’s 15… not so cute then!!)
Yes- I agree and think I would only scrape at say, 15-ish- when we’re on reality TV or something.
Or if she’s eating toilet paper.
Hillary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Thumbs Up
My oldest…and you know who she is, was sucking her thumb in the 36 week ultra sound. Needless to say, it did not stop upon her entry to the world. We were lucky enough that she would hold a blankie (okay towel…preferrably the dish kind with the fringie things) and tickle her nose while she sucked her thumb. Very cute if you can get over the fact your toddler wants a dish towel with her all the time…at least grab the clean ones. Anyway…I said lucky because when the time came to break the habit, we took the towel away and the thumb sucking stopped. Mostly. And the orthodontist bill for two years in braces didn’t hurt a bit. I promise. =)
How stinking cute! I hope you have a picture of that ultrasound!
Yes- I need to get her attached to a lovey, but so far, she is thumb, thumb only. And it’s chapped!!! Was her nose ever rubbed funny? I’ve seen kids with that several times.
And I’m sure that ortho bill was just LOVELY!!
Hillary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Thumbs Up
We didn’t get chapped nose…we did get chapped thumb. And not to scare you or anything, but sometimes when I go check on them at night (cause even when they are 11 and 8 you do that) she will have her thumb in her mouth in her sleep. Very rarely, and only if she was really tired when she went to sleep.
A was a big time passy sucker. While on a trip, a friends dog “ate it”. No more passy. Z sucked on the corners of cloth diapers. During Hurricane Katrina, we couldn’t wash them. No more sucking. Now in all honesty, they were both about 3 and a half and could reason why they couldn’t have whatever sucking device they wanted. All that to say they don’t have dental problems, other than those inherent overlapped front teeth or high eye teeth. A did have an overbite for awhile, but it went away after the passy did. I guess my point in all of that is to say with H, reasoning might work. With E, don’t worry about it yet. You have a few years before you need to cut off her thumb.
Yes- a few years, for sure! Thank goodness!
Henry has a SERIOUS sucking issue- all I say to him is “get your hands out of your mouth” or “get that iPhone/ game/ toy/ block/ ninja out of your mouth”. It’s a lovely thing to have to say 400 times a day. I’m so glad there is hope at over 3!! Thank YOU!!
Hillary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Thumbs Up
Ok….Aidan was a little over 3 when we took her passy’s away for good…same with RK…no problems and they LOVED them….I really don’t have a problem with the passy (unless they are draggging it out in public at 4 or 5..) I didn’t have a thumb suck, but a friend of mine did (does)..it becomes an unconscious (had to use spellcheck on that one) habit as they get older… I know they still make that (Gone With The Wind thumb sucking potion) that tastes bitter and helps them kick the habit…but I wouldn’t worry about it for quite some time!! For more information, just check out my blog….haha yeah right!
I have a problem when H talks with his passy in his mouth. I don’ tknow what it is- maybe that he tries to speak complete sentences about his views on politics or whatever (family politics, of course- like “make him give me that back”)- anything with a passy in gets NO love or attention from me. I hate the passy then, but somehow LOVE it and hand it right back when I want him to go to sleep. How’s that for consistency?
You NEEEED a blog.
And I spell check EVERYTHING- or just google my guessed spelling- how sad is that? I just googled consistency.
Hillary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Thumbs Up
Other Mama! I’ve missed you! Your posts are too few so when I saw my “tracker” on my dashboard all lit up this morning with a new post, I was so excited! Trust me, I know how busy life gets with three little ones and I’m sorry I have no advice on the thumb thing, but my last two have been passy people and my oldest never took a thing but that bottle. Still got one on the passy but she just turned two and sleeps in a big girl bed already and I’m just not ready to fight that battle yet. I have declared this year, however, to be the year that the Snows stopped purchasing diapers for the first time in 7 years! Hallelujah….wait I better not send my praises up yet, we haven’t begun, but you catch my drift right? It’s a goal, a resolution, an aspiration, and it might be a nightmare, but I hope not. Good luck…she sure looks yummy and I think chapped little thumbs are really in style:)
I am so jealous of your diaper goal! Might be 2013 for us!!
Hillary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Thumbs Up
So glad you are back! We missed you! So I don’t have any kids yet, but I sucked my thumb when I was little for WAY longer than I probably should have. Like I think til the 2nd or 3rd grade. It was a security thing and I mostly sucked my thumb at night. I can remember my parents wrapping it in duct tape and putting tabasco sauce on it trying to get me to stop. I don’t remember what eventually broke me from it but I can tell you that I don’t suck my thumb anymore so there is hope!
I would think that sticky tobasco is what broke you of it, for sure!!
Charlotte is sucking her thumb ever since we got rid of the passy around 12 months and I’m also unsure of what to do! The comment above from the wife of a dental student made me feel better though! I’m sure they’ll outgrow it eventually!
Jennifer´s last blog ..Roll Tide
let’s hope so!
Hey Hillary! Good to see you back at it. I just wanted you to know that all three of my girls sucked their thumbs. I refuse to believe that this is the reason that all three have had braces.
Shelly @ Life on the Wild Side´s last blog ..One Word
I don’t know what to think about that!! Oh no!!!
Let’s just believe they slap braces on anyone these days, okay?
You probably don’t want to hear this but I sucked my thumb until the day I got braces…when I was 10 years old. I would probably still suck my thumb if I could,
Ivy Smith´s last blog ..Hi Ho- Hi HoIts off to work we go!
Were you that girl on strange addictions the other night???
Kidding-
And does P suck her thumb? I saw on FB that she was already rolling over. She’s obviously SO advanced!!
Hi Hillary…so great to see you writing
Not gonna pretend to have any ‘old’ momma wisdom here.. While I did not have a thumb sucker, I was the mom with the family bed (I know what you are thinking…and I still had four kids??). I was told by so many that my children would suffer because we allowed them to sleep with us as babies and even as toddlers and that we needed to follow the rules for getting our children to sleep in their own beds. They are 23-15 now…and none seem to have suffered any pyschological (didn’t google that one…so let me know if I misspelled!) issues resulting from not following that rule. ON the contrary…they are quite the upstanding young adults if I do say so myself *blushing momma here*. OH…and #3 (our most social and self confident of the 4) refused to potty train until he was almost 5. AGain…breaking all the rules! All that to say…no time for guilt in a mommy’s life. It’s just the enemy’s way of stealing our joy in the moment…so celebrate the moment…It will all work out 
And BTW…you are correct…she is just too cute!!!
Tami´s last blog ..Wrapping Up ChristmasBefore You Forget!
My brother and I were both thumb suckas! Mother says we stopped on our own around 2 and it was no big deal. I needed braces, he did not … you can go ahead and hate his perfectly non-cavity 38 year old smile too. Surprisely NONE of our children were thumb suckas. I can’t remember if my nephew used a passy or not, Parker NEVER took one and Grant used one from 3-6 months (maybe?)
If my vote counts .. I say let it play out. It’s adorable!
Kelly´s last blog ..Once upon a time
Do not take that thumb away!! My daughter sucked 2 fingers-upsidedown…and she just quit at 4 1/2-with a little bribing of a color maker thing. And my son sucks his thumb. It is sweet and you don’t have to go looking for their thumb in the middle of the night!! The crooked teeth thing is an old wives tale. Take it from me-I sucked my thumb til I was 7 and never had braces!
Kera´s last blog ..Most Wonderful
Hi, Hillary! My jeans are pegged and I’m really to jump right back in:) First off, what a gorgeous baby! And second-off {not sure if that’s for real grammar or not. Or even if for real is real goodly grammar.} out of four kids, I had one thumb sucker and man,oh,man she was the best–simply the best–sleeper of the bunch. She probably sucked her thumb during the day until she was 5-6, but only when she was tired, or bored, or at Walmart where we got many unsolicited peices of advice on how to “break” her. Like she’s some wild colt that needs to be tamed! To be perfectly honest though, breaking the sucking at night thing was a bit harder. She still (at the age of 9) puts a band-aid on her thumb at night so she won’t do it. She says it “tastes soooo good” which I think is a bit wonky, but whatever flies your kite, right?
I had a friend that swears you help them stop before they turn one, so for a few days she would just pop it out whenever she would see him doing it {sounds fun} and after a couple of days, he was done. I think I would lose my mind, but maybe your boys could be thumb ninjas:)
Either way, she won’t be walking down the aisle sucking her thumb, so eventuallly she’ll get there:) Happy New Year!
My 4 yo has been a thumb sucker since birth. I was a little worried about his teeth, but I recently took him for his first dentist appt. (yes, we’re rebels–we waited until he was 4) and the dentist said his teeth were totally fine. I always liked it when he was a baby/young toddler because he was a self soother and well, the thumb is free and never gets lost. I have no idea how we’re going to break him of this, but I’m still not really worried about it.
I’m going to tell you a little secret. I am one of four, and the only one who was a thumb sucker. One of my sisters was a passy girl and the other two were never suckas I suppose. But all three of them had to have braces…twice. And me? Not.even.once. Probably just a fluke, but it was fine by me!
Erin´s last blog ..2011 starts off right
Isabelle sucked her thumb and stopped on her own around a year old. She was a thumb sucker and Collins is a paci baby…and I have to say I prefer a thumb sucker!!
She is beautiful! I could just eat her with a spoon,,, but don’t let that scare you! I promise I won’t. Sweet Pea was a thumb sucker and for 6 months I would pull the thumb out and put the paci in. It took forever, but eventually she stopped sucking her thumb… but, that was just my experiene. :0)
Reese was thumb sucka too and just quit on her own (I happen to think it is really cute too) but now I did it until I was six (not so cute) but mom (dental field for 30 years now) says it doesn’t matter that 90% of kids need braces anyway, so don’t worry!!
jenn mac´s last blog ..more to come…