Hard work pays off

Melanie has been asking to get her ears pierced since she realized other girls her age were getting them done.  At the outset, I always told her that if she could stop sucking her thumb, she could get them pierced.  Her doctor and her dentist talked to her about it at each visit, and recently her friend GZ stopped sucking her fingers with the aid of a "finger guard" ordered on Amazon.  So then Mel got it in her head that she needed this thumb guard in order to stop herself.  Add a layer of bribery on; after the kids asked nonstop about getting bunk beds, Jeff had told them that if they altered their bedtime routine (rather than making us stay with them until they fall asleep, they needed to be able to get to sleep on their own after their bedtime story/tucking in).  They both changed that habit a few months ago, so the pressure for the bunk beds started back in.  Then, Jeff changed the rules and said they couldn't get bunk beds until they stopped sucking their thumbs.

All of this came to a peak a couple of weeks ago, when the thumb guards arrived in the mail.  On Thursday 12/3/14, Melanie came home from school ready to open the mail and stop sucking her thumb.  She put that thing on, and never looked back.  One time, the first night, she asked if she could take it off and suck her thumb for 20 seconds.  After 9 seconds, she had it back on.  By Sunday night, she felt confident enough to sleep without it.  She's done a great job, and it was time to reward her for her determination.  (Joey, on the other hand, wore his thumb guard on one hand and sucked his other thumb). 

Friday night, she decided it was time - and off we went to get her ears pierced!  If I had a dollar for every time she has said "I can't BELIEVE I got my ears pierced," well....I may have enough to pay for the earrings.  But really, it's been awesome to see how over the top excited she has been, and how proud she is to show them off.  She wore a ponytail to Sunday School and school on Monday to help highlight her new addition.  She's taken the (3X/day!) cleaning of her ears very seriously, too, and marks each cleaning on the little chart they gave her. She asked great questions at the store about caring for her ears, and has only been nervous a few times - the first time she slept, first time for a bath, etc.  I now have to wear earrings to bed, so she will feel more comfortable knowing nothing will happen to her ears while she sleeps :)