thumb sucker

Habits are hard to break. Hayes enjoys a good thumb suck and twist of the hair every now and then... especially when he is sleepy or watching a movie. It has always been this way. Well, it has really started bothering me the last year or two. We've had many a discussion about the importance of stopping, seeing that he goes to school now and the effect that it could have on his teeth. He has no desire to quit.

Enter the buzz cut this summer. I had this bright idea that if I buzzed his hair off, he couldn't twist it... then if he couldn't twist it, he would have no interest in sucking his thumb! Genius, right? So much for that idea. Instead of twisting, he was just as content with poking the little spikes with his finger, while sucking his thumb. Urgh!

Ok, so that didn't work. I then tell him about this yucky stuff at Walgreens that I can put on his thumb to help him stop. He tells me that if I do that, I won't be his mommy anymore. Ouch! So for weeks now, we have talked about (threatened) the yucky stuff at Walgreens. "Hayes, if you don't try on your own, we're going to Walgreens." I don't know how many times a day I ask him to stop. He will even do it behind my back. I will catch him ripping his thumb out of his mouth as I turn to talk to him. Sneaky little sucker!

I have since bought the yucky stuff, Thum. I just can't bring myself to use it. I felt awful buying it. To me, it's perfectly fine to use the stuff if you actually want to break the habit but he doesn't. It feels like I am stripping him of his 'security item' before he is ready. I don't want to scar the kid for life but I also don't want him dealing with this when he's in grade school!

I am determined to win this battle. Thumb way or another.