Determination

Lately, Keira has been trying to develop her hand-mouth coordination. Until now it has been significantly lacking. She decided to take a direct approach to the task by testing out her own hand with particular focus on the thumb. I had a feeling she would one day decide to suck her thumb since I sucked mine relentlessly until the age of 4. Even in the womb we caught her with her hand suspiciously posed.

She tried for the better part of a week to fine tune her skills enough to get just her thumb in her mouth instead of her whole hand. She must have punched herself in the eye at least a dozen times, but in the end her determination paid off and she managed to get that thumb in there just long enough for a few gratifying sucks. I certainly don't want to encourage thumb sucking, but I don't want to discourage her from developing her hand-mouth coordination either, because the sooner she gets that down the sooner she can feed herself! If she does take to that hobby, I hope she is as decisive as I was the day I gave up my thumb.

Our friends Timmy and Tommy were teasing me calling me a baby for sucking my thumb and carrying around a blanket, and though I don't remember their bantering, I distinctly remember stomping into the kitchen where my parents were talking, put my fists straight down by my side and said, "I'm not a baby! I'm not sucking my thumb any more!" Then I threw my blanket in the garbage and declared my independence from it as well. My mom took it out of the trash and washed it, thinking I would be asking for it later, but I stayed true to my word. I never carried my blanket from that day forward, nor did my thumb ever part my lips again.