Karis received her first dolly shortly after she was born. In time, this dolly, so creatively named Dolly, became her close companion - and thumb-sucking crutch. I have no idea how it came about, but Karis began to hold Dolly upside down, and using her right hand, she would hold onto Dolly's leg, while sucking her thumb.
Now over time, the thumb sucking slowly decreased until it was done only at nighttime. For the past couple of years we've put up with it, figuring that "soon" we would end this Dolly attachment. And the start of that process came about when Nate went through his charting to track each night he did not suck his thumb. Well, Karis, seeing all this going on, wanted to do it, too. I didn't have a chart made up for her; I just figured she would have her own separate time to chart and track this event. But to "prep" her for it, we thought we'd start with some of that stuff you brush onto the thumb nail that tastes nasty - meant to deter the thumb sucking. We just did this a couple of weeks, at most. And then one night, Dolly was left downstairs at bedtime. And Karis was okay with it. And Dolly stayed in the downstairs playroom for a number of days... actually forgotten. gasp! But by that point, Karis was done. She'd overcome this bad habit in a very easy, low-key sort of way. No gifts or rewards given. Just recognition and praise from Mommy and Daddy. Our big girl did it on her own! Way to go, Karis!
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