Brooke Getting Her Ears Pierced

After our visit to the dentist a few months ago, Brooke has been working really hard to stop sucking her fingers. She was doing really good during the day, but at night it was a bit more difficult. We had tried everything we could think of, all of which were unsuccessful. Finally, she had found this small mesh bag of Austin's that used to hold his nerf dart gun darts in it. We would put it around her hand and waalaa, magic! It worked!

We made a deal with her that she could get her ears pierced if she stopped sucking her fingers. That was enough to make her want to stop sucking them. She had to stop sucking them for a whole week in order to get her reward though. The real test came on Friday night when we told her she would need to sleep without the little bag on her hand. She was sure she couldn't do it! "I need that bag!" We had a special talk with her and advised her to say a special prayer and someone that was stronger than her bag could help her. She went in my room and prayed her little heart out, and that night slept without sucking her fingers. Something she hasn't done since she was born.

We were very proud of her, and kept our part of the deal by taking her to the mall to get her ears pierced.

She was

a bit nervous, but put on her game face and forged ahead. She

chose little pink daisies for her earings and

listened carefully as the lady told her how to take care of them. When she got done we thought she would be bursting with excitement, but she wouldn't really talk about it until we got in the car. It wasn't until we were at the drive thru at McDonald's to get her a special treat that she finally opened up and had a big grin on her face. We are very proud of you Brooke for working so hard at something that was very difficult for you.