A HUGE Milestone

Parker reached a huge milestone this week: he stopped sucking his thumb!!! My sweet boy started sucking his thumb when he was about 12 weeks old. Of course, we all thought it was so cute back then. But then he turned into a toddler and started rubbing his belly button while he sucked his thumb. Not as cute, but there was nothing we could do about it. Then he turned 3 and we started talking to him about how big boys don't suck their thumb. For at least 6 months before his 4th birthday, he would constantly tell us, "When I turn 4, I'm going to stop sucking my thumb." His fourth birthday came and went but the thumb sucking habit still remained.

I finally decided that this summer we were really going to work on getting rid of this habit. There are so many reasons why I wanted him to stop, but the biggest is for social reasons. Kids these days are so mean and I don't want him to ever be made fun of for something that I can help him overcome. I have had a couple of first graders in the past who sucked their thumb and it definitely made them stand out from the other kids. So I decided to create a plan and stick with it as long as it took to succeed!

A few weeks ago during a quick trip to Wal-Mart, Parker saw a green gun in the toy department that he REALLY wanted. We rarely buy the kids toys during shopping trips so I let him look at it but then he had to put it back. He talked about it the rest of the day and even told Cory about it when he got home from work. I decided that night that the green gun would be our incentive toy for when Parker was finally successful.

We created a sticker chart and told Parker that if he could go all day without sucking his thumb, he could earn a sticker for his chart. When he got 5 stickers in a row, he would get the green gun. The hard part was that if he got a few stickers and then one day decided to suck his thumb, he had to completely start over.

We started the Monday after I finished school. Parker woke up at 8:00 and by 8:15 he had his thumb in his mouth. Not a good start but I stuck to my guns and did not give him any more chances that day. The next 6 days were very much the same as the first. There were times that I would give him a gentle reminder and he would look at me and deliberately put his thumb in his mouth. I was so discouraged and assumed that we might be sending him to college sucking his thumb, but I did not give up!

Finally, the next Monday- one week after we had started our journey- Parker woke up and decided on his own that he was not going to suck his thumb. He was so self motivated and tried really hard all day. One of the hardest times for him was whenever we were in the car so I made sure to have a sucker for him during our car ride that day to help him and keep him distracted. That night at bedtime, he was SO proud of himself as he put his first sticker on his chart. He even made sure we prayed "for Jesus to help him not suck his thumb so he could get that green gun"! So sweet!

The next four days were a breeze for Parker. Not once did he ever seem tempted to suck his thumb. I was shocked by how easy it was once he made up his own mind to do it! Last night, after five long days, Parker got his green gun. He was so happy and we were so proud of him! He has played with it all day today. We decided to keep the sticker chart going in order to avoid a regression. He is now working toward a trip to Jumpin' Apes and I don't think he will have any trouble getting it! I am so glad to have this behind us and am ready to move on to our next milestone- potty training Eden!