Magic Thumb

Two days ago I came home from work to find the Phebis doing this:

At first I was unsure of how I felt about it. I mean, the Boogie had a binky and I'll be honest, I thought it was kinda cute. Plus, it was up to me whether she had it or not. If it got dirty I could keep it away from her. When it came time to break the binky habit we weaned her off of it and then just took it away. The downside was that it took many months before she was old enough and coordinated enough to find it in the dark at night and put it in her own mouth.

I can't take a thumb away. I sucked my fingers till I was five or six (I think) and I can remember trying to stop. I'm trying to think ahead, you know. But you can't lose a thumb ... and it can't fall out of a car seat or stroller onto the ground ... or fall out of the crib and get kicked underneath in the middle of the night ... and you don't have to worry about having a spare in the diaper bag ... AND ...

... twice yesterday I laid the Phebis in her crib and she looked at her mobile for a while, got sleepy, turned on her side, stuck her thumb in her mouth, and went to sleep. Just like that! Last night she was awake for a bit after we went to bed but instead of her fussing and me shoving the binky in her mouth multiple times, she kicked around in her crib and sucked on her thumb until she went to sleep. Then she slept all night. I'm not kidding, people. She didn't wake me up even one time. I woke up at six and when I checked on her she was sucking her thumb and dozing! I had to wake her up to feed her! The thumb is magic, I tell you. MAGIC.

So. I'm thinking this thumb business is not so bad after all. Maybe in a few months we can wean from thumb to binky? That might just be the best of both worlds.