Thumb sucking, nail biting and potty training.

Alex has been a thumb sucker almost from the start. He used a pacifier for a short while, but gave it up for the thumb. It was a blessing at first. We didn't need to bring extra pacifiers anywhere, because he could not lose his. Also, seeing an infant sucking their thumb is so cute!

But then he got older. Now I had a 3 year old sucking his thumb. I hate when you're out and about, and you see that 4 year old with the pacifier...you know the one. And you think to yourself, "Wow. Hasn't anyone ever told that kid's mother to get rid of that thing?!" So....since I judge others on keeping the pacifier around for so long....I decided I needed to buckle down on my little man, and try to get this nasty habit broke.

After months of unsuccessfully trying to convince him not to suck his thumb...I looked online to try to figure out my options. This looked promising...until I saw the price tag.

Then I came across this. (Which was only $5.00 total with shipping when I bought it.) Based on reviews, I thought I would get lucky with this little remedy. It has cayenne pepper in it, and Alex hates spicy food....so I had high hopes.

I tried it on my own nail as soon as it came in. It had a distinctly spicy/bitter flavor. I tried it on Alex. I did not tell him what it was for...only saying that it was fingernail polish. (Which, by the way, he loves.) He tried to suck his thumb a little while later, only to pull his thumb out of his mouth immediately, and have a disgusted look on his face. Fast forward hours later, he is sitting in front of the tv sucking away at his thumb with no problems. This stuff wears off after only a few attempts at sucking the thumb.

So I decided to try the more expensive, longer lasting stuff. When it arrived, I, again, tried it out on myself. It. Was. Horrible. Not only that, the taste lingered in my mouth for a good half hour, even after drinking lots of water. So we tried it out on Alex. The first two days were rough for the little man. The first day he woke up in a terrible mood. He went to pop that thumb into his mouth, and before it even got in his mouth, he yanked it back down, spun in a circle, and started crying. He was very grumpy the first two days....and now? He doesn't even attempt to put his thumb into his mouth. He is just as happy as before. And now we don't have to worry about possible teeth problems...(well, any more than we already have to....our kids are pretty much screwed which ever side they get their dental genetics from.) ...or embarrassment for him in school.

I was worried to try these products at first, because I was worried that forcing him to quit sucking his thumb, would damage the progress that we've made with potty training. It seems that is has had almost the opposite impact entirely. Since he has gone cold turkey with the thumb sucking, he has started to go potty on his own. A couple saturdays ago, he went potty all day by himself while daddy and uncle Chris were too busy playing video games to care. ^_~ Plus, he has started to go poop on the potty as well, which we were having huge issues with. So mom is thrilled! We are almost there!!!

He has always been into biting his nails a little, which I try to discourage...but it had picked up a lot lately. So we used his special nail polish on all ten fingers, and the biting has stopped. I have not had to reapply at all. Mommy's little man is starting to grow up. Soon we will say goodbye to pull ups all together!!