The End of an Era

I have to take a moment and celebrate the end of the finger sucking era at our home.

Eleanor started sucking her fingers around 3 months old, and it has been her go-to source of comfort since then.  Which got pretty nasty to think about while we were in China...but anyway...

Eleanor was sick with some pukey bug the week before Christmas, and as usual would suck her two little fingers to comfort herself.  And then she got a callous on her index finger, which quickly started to look a little infected.  She understands now what an owie is, and that if she leaves it alone her body will make a "body band-aid"-aka scab-and it will get better.

So we told her she couldn't suck her fingers because she had an owie and her body needed to make a body band-aid so it could get better.  At first we had to remind her every time she popped her fingers in her mouth, but we were consistent which helped a lot. 

Then she started self discipling, saying "No Ellie, don't suck fingers. You have an owie" whenever she would start to suck on them.

And voila! No more finger sucking.  I am one happy mama.