Good bye, friend Thumb
As usual, I'm behind. Behind on housework, paperwork, birthday thank-yous, IOUs, and--of course--journaling in any form or fashion. I suppose I could whine and sigh and fuss, but I'd rather not dwell on it. It is what it is at the current moment, however unpleasant, and despite my better judgment which is telling me that these few minutes before I close my eyes would be better spent catching up on any one of my other "behind" items, I'm opting to blog.
Sometime over the past couple of weeks, my little family has made it through a series of mini milestones. The bathroom is repaired, the deck is constructed, and Anna is all at once done with thumb sucking. I'm not sure how it all happened. I suppose I just must have blinked.
A couple of weeks ago, Anna started in on a particularly ferocious bout of thumb sucking. She wore a deep, sore blister on the palm side of her thumb, and the callous on the back was peeling and raw pink. At one point at my sister's house, Anna sucked her thumb until it bled. Rachel put a waterproof band-aid on it, and Anna left it on, to everyone's surprise. Within a few days, I noticed that I hadn't seen Anna with her thumb in her mouth--not even at night. The trend seems to have continued. Tonight, when I was clipping her fingernails as she slept in my arms, I noticed that her thumb nail was hard and sturdy, not soggy and paper-thin.
To be honest, I haven't felt as much relief about the no-thumb thing as I thought I would. I had my share of valid concerns about the habit, so it doesn't make sense that I feel--for lack of a better explanation--as though I didn't get the closure I needed. I was, however, keenly aware of the last time Anna nursed, and I made it a point to savor the moment. I was involved in weaning her from bottles, in flipping around her car seat, in fading her morning nap. The little turkey took the thumb-sucking tie to her infancy away without easing me away from it. I guess it's her right...and it has never been (nor should it be) about me, anyway.
I am incredibly proud of her, and I am grateful that I won't have to hassle with strange-flavored nail polishes and medieval contraptions to keep her thumb out of her mouth when she's five. And I really wouldn't keep her chained to babyhood forever. It's just so bittersweet to see her lying with her thumb out of her mouth with her head on a pillow like a big kid--to hear her stringing 2-3 word phrases together like a big kid--to watch her fasten clasps and work puzzles...like a big kid.
Last summer, I stumbled onto a song called "You and Me" by Frances England that has a chorus which is particularly striking to me these days:
How did you grow so big overnight?
How did you get so smart and bright?
Yesterday you were asleep in my arms.
Today you're growing off the charts.
I'm so proud of you.
Here's the link to her site if you'd like to take a listen to this or any of her other songs. http://www.francesengland.com/music.php
Morning will be here sooner than I'd like. Enough sappiness for one night, I figure.
Sometime over the past couple of weeks, my little family has made it through a series of mini milestones. The bathroom is repaired, the deck is constructed, and Anna is all at once done with thumb sucking. I'm not sure how it all happened. I suppose I just must have blinked.
A couple of weeks ago, Anna started in on a particularly ferocious bout of thumb sucking. She wore a deep, sore blister on the palm side of her thumb, and the callous on the back was peeling and raw pink. At one point at my sister's house, Anna sucked her thumb until it bled. Rachel put a waterproof band-aid on it, and Anna left it on, to everyone's surprise. Within a few days, I noticed that I hadn't seen Anna with her thumb in her mouth--not even at night. The trend seems to have continued. Tonight, when I was clipping her fingernails as she slept in my arms, I noticed that her thumb nail was hard and sturdy, not soggy and paper-thin.
To be honest, I haven't felt as much relief about the no-thumb thing as I thought I would. I had my share of valid concerns about the habit, so it doesn't make sense that I feel--for lack of a better explanation--as though I didn't get the closure I needed. I was, however, keenly aware of the last time Anna nursed, and I made it a point to savor the moment. I was involved in weaning her from bottles, in flipping around her car seat, in fading her morning nap. The little turkey took the thumb-sucking tie to her infancy away without easing me away from it. I guess it's her right...and it has never been (nor should it be) about me, anyway.
I am incredibly proud of her, and I am grateful that I won't have to hassle with strange-flavored nail polishes and medieval contraptions to keep her thumb out of her mouth when she's five. And I really wouldn't keep her chained to babyhood forever. It's just so bittersweet to see her lying with her thumb out of her mouth with her head on a pillow like a big kid--to hear her stringing 2-3 word phrases together like a big kid--to watch her fasten clasps and work puzzles...like a big kid.
Last summer, I stumbled onto a song called "You and Me" by Frances England that has a chorus which is particularly striking to me these days:
How did you grow so big overnight?
How did you get so smart and bright?
Yesterday you were asleep in my arms.
Today you're growing off the charts.
I'm so proud of you.
Here's the link to her site if you'd like to take a listen to this or any of her other songs. http://www.francesengland.com/music.php
Morning will be here sooner than I'd like. Enough sappiness for one night, I figure.
Aww! Why do they grow up so much faster than we're ready?
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