urlvd: Manicures

All of the Lee children are thumb suckers. Ella found her thumb at six weeks old and never turned back. I distinctly remember the night that Ella found her thumb. We were staying in a hotel and for some reason we did not have a pack-n-play so I was sleeping in the bed with Ella. The night she found her thumb she sucked it all night long, VERY LOUD. Needless to say, I did not sleep at all that night. Miller would not take a paci and did not suck his thumb. I did not force the paci and really only tried to give it to him during the day when he was upset. I thought we were in the clear with him. Then at four months old Miller found his suckin' thumb. After seeing how difficult it was to get children to stop sucking their thumb I tried very hard to get Sara Wells to take a paci. But she would not do it, it only made her more mad. It only took 8 weeks for her to find her thumb. So, we have three thumb suckers.

When Ella turned 3 I stopped letting her suck her thumb all the time (of course I have not done this with Miller yet). I really laid down the law about sucking her thumb during the day. Somewhere in the "laying down the law" about sucking her thumb, Ella became a nail biter. We have worked and worked and worked on not biting her nails. I told Ella if she stopped biting her nails I would take her to get a manicure. She had no idea what a manicure was, but she it made her really excited. It only took about 6 months after that for her to finally stop. I don't know if it was the manicure, or she was just tired of me constantly telling her to get her fingers out of her mouth, but something worked and Ella stopped biting her fingernails! It actually happened about 2 months ago and we just got to go. I feel terrible that it took me so long to keep my promise to Ella, especially for something that is such a big deal. It is just difficult to find time to leave with only one child. But we did it yesterday and she was thrilled!

Anxiously waiting