During our recent dentist visit, we were reminded of the importance of getting Miss O to stop sucking her thumb. The dentist noticed the changes that were already happening in her mouth, and also told me about the long term effects it could have on her jaw growth. All of our kids have been thumb suckers. They seem to have inherited this trait from their daddy, who had a hard time giving up this habit as a little guy. He has bad memories of the things his parents did to encourage him to stop... one of these things being socks on his hands before bed. The dentist told me that this worked for his child, so we thought we would give it a try (even though I do remember Mr. J swearing he would never put his kids through this). We put socks on their hands and then used clear packing tape on the wrist area of the sock, as he suggested. We made it a "fun" event, having all the kids put socks on so Miss O wouldn't be the only one. (Miss M gave up her thumb sucking on her own right around 3... I was hoping the same would happen with Miss O, but it hasn't yet). Mr. J said I had to take pictures to show his mom, so I posted them below. Immediately after I put them on, Miss O tried to suck her thumb through the sock with minimal success. As you can see by the last photo, the socks didn't last long. The girls worked together shortly after they were put to bed.. Mr. T got his taken off when he went to bed as well. So if anyone has any good ideas to getting her to stop this habit, please let me know!
This picture was taken in the dark, about a half hour after they went to bed. 
Miss D has quit sucking her thumb. Her dentist told her that she needed to try and stop. That was the last day that she did it. She really surprised me.
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