::thumb sucker so back off::

Yes.  Max sucks his thumb.  He always has.  From the time he could get his thumb into his mouth he loved sucking his thumb.  SO BACK OFF MEAN OLD LADY AT THE STORE THAT TOLD ME THAT I HAD TO "MAKE HIM STOP".  How does one force a baby to not suck his thumb?  It isn't a pacifier that I can just take away from him.  I am not putting hot sauce, or chicken poop, or anything else on his thumb to make him stop.  It wouldn't work anyway.  Here is what it comes down to - I don't care that he sucks his thumb.  He will stop when he is good and ready and till them I will keep an eye on that thumb blister of his and make sure it doesn't start looking like a staph infection.  I get overly rev-d up about just about everything but on this one I just want to tell nosy people "you are not the boss of me!"   

Now with that rant out of my system I want to make it clear that I am not TELLING you what you should do.  You should do what ever works for your family.  And it works for me to let my son suck his thumb.  I always thought that I would be such a tough love kind of mom when it came to things like that but I am not at all. 

He also has two blankets that he loves.  We call them his wubby's and he specifically loves the blue one the most but the green one will do.  The tags on them are the best part and he isn't shy about making that clear to you.  I talked about them at work and the wise parents/nurses helped me come to grips with the fact that I should just leave him alone about it.  He will get rid of it when he is ready.  Or he will take it to NFL training camp some day.  Who cares?  His wife can deal with it.  

We have a picture of Lily at her 20 week ultrasound sucking on the back of her hand.  When she was born started off sucking on the back of her hand right away.  That progressed to her lightly pinching her neck and sucking her hand.  Next she stopped sucking her hand and began pinching her neck and pushing her tongue against her teeth.  Her favorite was to sit on your lap and pinch your neck too.  It was a sign of her affection so it became really cute to me.  

Her preschool said that the neck pinching was distracting to her and that she did it too often so they made the rule that she could only do that at nap.  I supported them on that and she did what they asked.  Now she hardly ever does it.  Only when she is really tired.  I think it is precious and I wouldn't take that kind of self comfort away from her. 

Lily and her cousin Sybil