Thumb art

How do you help kids not suck their thumbs at night? Over the past two years (sigh) we have had a series of increasingly elaborate rituals. (Only Jordan sucks his thumb, but Aaron is included in everything, just because it's easier all around.) The first attempt was the nasty nail polish, painted onto thumbs at night. Then we moved to nasty nail polish painted onto a band-aid on each thumb, so that it could be removed in the morning. Then we moved to wearing gloves at night, with a red X drawn on each thumb in washable marker so that we can tell if the gloves were removed. One night I drew hearts instead of X's, and since then, it's been four miniature artworks in washable marker every night. They tell me what to draw and I do my best.

For ten days in a row Aaron has requested (1) a potato and (2) a rotten pineapple. I can't explain why these are so satisfying to him.

Jordan thinks up something new every night: a tree, a cheetah, a car, a musical note, a bull. Tonight he asked for an eyeball and the word "me."

Theoretically they get points for showing their thumb-pictures in the morning, and the points can be traded in for legos. We are not all that consistent about this... we let them record their points, and occasionally we buy them some legos, but the economy is not a well-defined one. This keeps it from becoming a chore.