Finger Sucking

Ever since he was just oh so little Ryan has loved sucking on his two middle fingers of his left hand. He didn't take to a pacifier after the first month or so but found his fingers pretty quickly. It sure is cute, especially when he was just months old, instead of almost 2. He slept so well at night after he started with the fingers and if he found a blanket he would almost immediately put the fingers in his mouth and lay down on the floor with the blanket, content for about 5 minutes, sometimes more. I knew we would have to break the habit one day and dreaded the process because those fingers gave him so much comfort. Recently when he would be sucking on his fingers I would teasingly tell him to take them out of his mouth and pull them away. It became something of a game and I wondered if that was the wrong way to start the breaking the habit process.

I realized a couple of days ago that the 2 week long, stuffy/runny/snotty/yucky nose cold must have broken him of the finger sucking for good. He can breath through his nose most of the time now, yet he still doesn't suck on his fingers. I'm elated that I don't have the huge battle I thought I would (I imagined something similar to fingernail biting with Tabasco sauce on his fingers, etc.) but I'm also a little sad. It was so cute, helped him sleep better and it means my baby is growing up.