Raelin is my hero!!! A little while ago, I had talked to Raelin about how important it was that she stop sucking her thumb because her permanent teeth are coming in (seemed like the argument that would work best on her at the moment). We looked at pictures of kids who had tooth damage because of thumb sucking and we looked at apparatuses kids had in their mouths to make them stop sucking. A week or so after that, she asked me to make her a new thumb guard to help her not suck her thumb. It actually worked this time!!!! She dedicated herself and finally made up her mind to stop sucking that thumb! She wore the thumb guard for about half of January and then she forgot it one day and did fine without it. She said she didn't need it anymore. I talked to her a little about maybe wearing it at night because she sucked her thumb in her sleep and had no idea she was doing it and that it would make it harder to break the habit. I didn't tell her she had to; I just said she should think about it. She was very diligent in making sure she went to bed with her thumb guard on--almost like she was afraid to do something that would bring back the habit and ruin all her hard work--but she didn't need it in the day at all after only about 2 weeks! I was so so so impressed with how diligent she was and how tough she was about it. She took the lead on it and made sure she was wearing it when she needed it. It was great to watch her be so strong! I've talked to Raelin over the years about all kinds of reasons for not sucking her thumb but the one that was most important to me was that I knew that when she sucked her thumb, she kind of turned in on herself and didn't engage in life as much. She was kinda mopey with that thing in her face. I was just certain that she would be so much more happy and engaged in life if she would quit. It has been wonderful to see her be bouncy and happy and SMILEY since she has stopped sucking her thumb! She talks more, she smiles more, she laughs more, she embraces life more. I love it! And the best part to her, I'm sure, is that she got a new puppy out of the deal! We'd told her over 2 years ago that she could have a puppy if she quit sucking her thumb. Well, she finally did it!! She earned her puppy. Here's her little Welsh corgi she named Codie:
She got him on February 18th and he was 8 weeks old. He's been a great little puppy! So cuddly and cute! The breed is not the greatest looking breed--a long stocky body with short stumpy legs and big ol' bat ears. Kinda funny looking. But Codie is a very cute kind of goofy-looking and his temperament and personality are great.
Raelin does most of the taking-care of for Codie and she's been great at teaching him to go potty outside (most of the time) and playing with him. He's small enough that he gets to go lots of places with us and she takes care of all of that too. They are a perfect little pair! Codie even plays soccer with Raelin!
He loves to hide under the couch but he's growing so fast that it won't be long before he can't fit anymore.
Baby corgis have floppy ears and between about 8 and 12 weeks, the cartilage hardens enough to make them stick up. Here's Codie when one ear had hardened and the other hadn't yet:
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