Genius

Royce has been a thumb-sucker since he was a baby. Personally, I loved it. It was SO convenient, miracle-working and to be honest, pretty darn cute.

But. he's. almost. three.

And then it's not so cute........nor will the dental bill be cute.

Well, and let's be honest, it's a LOT easier tricking a 2 year old into not sucking his thumb then an 8 year old. One day Brooks just grabbed his black Gorilla tape and taped Royce's pointer finger and thumb together so he could no longer suck his thumb.

Then Royce put his RIGHT thumb (the only thumb he sucks) in his mouth and laughed at Brooks while pointing and mocking him for taping up the wrong thumb. 

So Brooks finally got the RIGHT one this time.

And there wasn't so much laughing after that. In fact, you would've thought we just cut off his leg.

I felt kinda bad for him that night so I went in to check on him while he was sleeping......the black tape was off and his thumb inserted. Hmmmmm, maybe this 2 year old is a little stronger/smarter then we thought. And just MAYBE I should start taking over in the problem-solving department. Move over Brooks!

The next morning I grabbed some medical tape and tried Brooks' same technique.

It probably lasted 10 minutes tops before he had it ripped off.

I decided I would put a sock OVER his hand and tape it to his shirt. 

But the thin little sock was still "suck-worthy" I guess because it didn't deter him.

Then in a moment of pure genius I thought of my fuzzy socks..........because who REALLY wants to put their mom's fuzzy pink sock in their mouth?!?!?

It worked like a CHARM!!!!! He didn't want ANYTHING to do with his thumb.

Problem WAS, that he could get his arm out of his shirt because his neck was pretty wide.

But don't you think for a SECOND that it stumped me! Oh no no no......It may 11 years since I've been to school, but no 2 year old is going to outsmart ME!

See? Wide necked shirt problem fixed.

Man, I love that Gorilla tape.

Checking on him at night and his thumb is faaaaaaaaar from his mouth.

And the PLUS side of the whole sock idea is that I have TWO of them, so I can wash one and he can wear the other one. He can also use his hand really well (think sock-puppet), so he never got frustrated for a second.

Here he is, 10 days later and still making a fuzzy pink sock look cool.

I am HAPPY to report, that I have removed his sock from his hand today. The child went to sleep without sucking his thumb..........

thanks to his MOM'S ingenuity.