Done with the Thumb!

TYLER DOESN'T SUCK HIS THUMB ANYMORE!!!! I am amazed! Let me tell you the story!

On Monday Tyler and I had a dentist appointment. One for me as I had a crack in my filling. Unfortunately I don't have insurance, but it was either somehow pay whatever it costs now or have it get worse and have something worse happen to my tooth. So, I got it fixed.

Tyler went to the dentist for the first time. He didn't take to the hands on experience but rather let the dental hygienist show him the instruments with me as the prop. He wouldn't let her brush his teeth or anything. After a while of being there he finally allowed some cleaning to take place by me. He reluctantly let Dr. Ford look into his mouth. He told me, as Tyler was sitting there, that his thumb sucking was starting to affect his teeth. He said we needed to work on stopping the thumb sucking by using tape, yucky stuff on his thumb, whatever we could think of. He wanted to have him stop by the time he was 4 years old at the latest. Earlier the better. After our conversation, I turned to Tyler and said: Tyler, Dr. Ford said you need to stop sucking your thumb because it is starting to hurt your teeth. So, during the day you can't suck your thumb anymore. You can suck your thumb when you take a nap and at bedtime, but no more during the day. If you want you can be a big boy and stop completely. He said: OK. I left it at that.

Then on his own he stopped completely! I didn't say anything else to him at all! The next morning I said: Tyler, you know what I have noticed? He said: What? I said: I have noticed you don't suck your thumb anymore. I am very proud of you. This will help your teeth so much. You look older today, Tyler. He said: Yup. He smiled.

So, here are some photographs from the past of my now Non-Thumb-Sucker Tyler Shumaker:









I will miss things about my thumb sucker... it is really quite adorable. I think I might have to pose one photograph ... one where Lincoln is sucking his thumb with Tyler sucking his thumb next to him.... I will think about that one for sure.