Goodbye, Faithful Friend

 When she was three months old, Anna found her thumb and basically soothed herself to sleep from then on.  

We were blessed with such a good little sleeper...and deceived into thinking all our children would sleep like her. :)

 A few months later, she found her ear and this became her default position.

 I was a thumb sucker and secretly hoped my little one would be too.  

Just because I think it is so cute.

 Around age 1, she found her belly button and preferred that to her ear.

 

After that, I could no longer put her in one-piece outfits or bathing suits.  

And every time I put her in her car seat, I had to make sure she had access to her belly button.

All this thumb sucking created a sizable gap in Anna's front teeth and we noticed her bottom teeth were starting to be pushed in.  In May when she turned 3, Brad started talking to her about not sucking her thumb anymore and explained why she needed to stop.  Whenever he would bring it up, she would get upset and run to me, so Brad decided drop it for the time being.  Two weeks after Brad first talked to her about it, out of the blue, she told me that God told her to stop sucking her thumb.  She still did not stop, but I know she was processing it in her little mind.  

In June, I went to Houston overnight and Brad decided to bring it up again since I was not there.  That was all it took...it is now September and she has not sucked her thumb since.  I couldn't believe she had stopped just like that, so I would peek in while she was sleeping to see if she had snuck it back.  She was always peacefully asleep with her hand by her side.  

A couple times I have asked her about it and she would tell me "I really, really want to, but daddy told me not to".  This broke my heart and made me swell with pride at the same time.  I honestly wasn't ready for her to stop, she was still so little to me.  But she was ready and mature enough to obey her daddy even when she didn't want to because he knew what was best for her.  I personally struggle with authority at times, and this was such a beautiful example of obedience for me to see.  I don't want to give the impression that Anna is a perfectly obedient child, but she often is and definitely was in this case.  

I asked her to suck her thumb one last time for a couple of pictures, and she hesitantly agreed. :)

 

Oh and by the way, my awesome little sleeper who would quietly fall right to sleep soon after I laid her down is GONE!
Naps and bedtime have become more, let's just say, challenging.
I know it is also her age, but I think the thumb had a lot to do with it.

 
 On the plus side, since she stopped sucking her thumb way before her mommy, hopefully she will be sparred the pain and suffering of wearing a palatal expander and braces!