- OUR KIDS' KIDS -

the contents in this post are all accurate, but will more than likely NOT be accepted by other parents as the 'correct way of raising a child' & for that i'm sorry... well, not really! - i'll post at the bottom as to the reasons why we chose to do what we did, but again, it's just what we chose to do

here's our girls & their 'kids'...

kiara (top) came home from haiti in 2003 & was an avid thumb sucker - we tried to get her also attached to her pink silkie along with sucking her thumb as a bit of 'exta comfort' & NO WAY, she'd not have any part of it - all she wanted to do was suck her thumb & nothing else! - she'd sleep with things from time to time, but nothing 'stuck' except the thumb

karleigh (bottom) came home from haiti in 2004 & was also an avid thumb sucker - we did the same thing with trying to get her attached to her blue silkie along with sucking her thumb - she not only continued sucking her thumb, but also accepted the silkie just fine & became VERY attached to it

ruby (middle) came home from hait in 2005 & with her being 2.5 upon arrival we knew we'd never get her attached to much of anything as when we'd visit her in haiti all those trips, she'd not want to sleep with a stuffed animal, a doll, a silkie, etc. & she was NOT interested in sucking her thumb AT ALL! - well, when she got off the plane in indiana, it was late at night so kiara & karleigh were both really sleepy as they were sitting in their strollers - ruby walked up to them, looked very closely at their thumbs in their mouths, looked closely at her own thumb, stuck it in her mouth & that's where it's been ever since - now, she's the biggest (BY FAR) thumb sucker of the 3!!

they've also all 3 adopted a stuffed animal & so when all's said & done they all sleep great (some sleep MORE than others, but that's a different post) & they've now got several 'things of comfort' & here they are in the order of importance:

kiara: thumb, douglas & pink silkie
ruby: thumb, yellow silkie & hershey
karleigh: thumb, blue silkie & chloe

the reason why we chose to do this (allowing the thumb sucking, silkies, etc.) is due to what all they've gone through - i know we can't live our life treating them as 'different' due to what they've gone through, but as babies/very small children you can (or at least we did) - we wanted to shower them with comforts (ie: being rocked to sleep every night & carried to bed, holding their hands walking through a store, carrying them rather than having them walk - laying in bed with them for a bit & just 'talking', etc.) - some may say that sucking the thumb will destroy the teeth & yes, i'm sure it does & might for them too, but brit (16y) came to us & had never sucked her thumb EVER & has had more dental work that i care to talk about so we really don't see the harm in allowing them to do it - if we've got to have braces placed on them years from now, then so be it, at least we'll know they were comforted when they needed it most [hugs]