Yucky Fingers

Yesterday we decided to bite the bullet and use the yucky stuff you paint on fingers to help MG stop sucking them. It wasn't getting better, she was sucking them more and more. We tried reward charts, little gifts, reminders, replacements...nothing else worked. I feel pretty certain that the hair pulling will stop when the finger sucking does, too, since they go hand-in-hand (literally!). I have read a couple articles relating the two so I'm hoping this will kill 2 birds with one stone.

Yesterday afternoon I sat MG down and talked to her about what we were going to do. I told her how I used to suck my thumb and Granny helped me quit so I could be a big girl and now she was going to get to be a big girl, too. I showed her the stuff I was going to paint on them and talked about how it would taste really yucky if she put either finger in her mouth. She was surprisingly calm about the whole thing. She gave me her fingers like a big girl and watched me paint the stuff on. She went the rest of the afternoon/evening with no troubles at all! I couldn't believe how grown-up she was about it. Made me super proud and really shocked!

Bedtime last night was a different story. She's been difficult at bedtime lately anyway, not having her fingers to settle her down did not help! She fussed, whined, cried, yelled, tossed and turned until 10pm or so. It was really frustrating, but really sad, too. My poor girl did not know how to settle herself down without those fingers. It was her ritual, her safety net, her comfort zone. I felt like the world's worst mom for taking that away from her! I just kept reminding myself that it was for the best...it was for her own good...it's what she needed...blah blah blah!

This morning I celebrated and cheered for her when she woke up. One thing I always want her to remember me for is being her biggest cheerleader! I asked her if we should put more stuff on there before school and she actually answered "yes"! So we did!

She had a really big day today. No fingers, no hair and she did it all while being in a new class at school...without her Granny!! Yay! That is HUGE! There were several teachers out today, so they moved some of mom's kiddos up to the preschool class where MG will be next year. Mom sent MG over and she did fantastic! She played, napped and ate lunch. Mom said she even told everyone bye when she left. I am so super duper ridiculously proud of my girl! It may not sound like much, but for a little girl who has always been with her mom or granny and refused to even look (seriously) at strangers, it's huge! I'm actually really excited for her to move up to a new class. I think it will be an amazing experience for her and I think it will help her grow so much.

Bedtime has been difficult tonight, but nothing compared to last night. I honestly can't tell if it's the no fingers or just her lovely 3 year old personality causing the problems tonight! There were several minutes of fake and forced "crying" and whining. But it's quiet now. She tried pulling her hair just to get a rise out of us...she's a smart little girl...too smart!

We shall see how this goes. I'm hoping and praying this is the solution we've been looking for.