I can't believe it, and I still might cry. Last night Caroline slept WITHOUT Hammie the Pig for the first time ever since she was 7 months old.
We went to the dermatologist yesterday about her recent excema (eczema? I can never remember how to spell it!) flare up and an itchy rash in her elbows. He confirmed that she has VERY sensitive skin and said that the thumb she sucks is also coated with excema. I said oh, I thought it was just dry skin - he said dry skin doesn't look like THAT, and that any stress on her immune system (like being sick) or on her skin (like constant immersion in her mouth to suck) will cause it to flare up, and that she HAD to stop sucking her thumb in order for that to get better.
So when he explained the skin medicine to Caroline, he said it was for her thumb (and under his breath to me he said "and the excema patches that flare up") and that using it would help her to stop the thumb sucking. He said she should sleep with a glove or sock on it to make sure the medicine didn't get in her mouth because it could make her very very sick. So from the time we left the doctors at 9:45am until bedtime at 7:30 she did not put her thumb in her mouth even once. As we were getting ready for bed, she handed me Hammie and just looked at me. I asked what was wrong, and she said she thought she probably shouldn't sleep with Hammie, because being with Hammie made her want to suck her thumb, and she didn't want to do that. So she decided to put Hammie on the book shelf next to her bed, wore her striped mitten to bed, and that was it. She cried for a few minutes, but we talked about some good stuff happening this week, and picking out a reward if she made it for a whole month (new rollerskates), and how big and strong she was to deal with this now when she knew it was good for her. She slept all through the night fine and woke up a bit early this morning to come show us that she didn't take the mitten off all night. I'm so proud I could die!
(and yes, I know it's been a while since I posted pictures - Blogger has been having some hissy fits with posting pictures and I don't have the time to keep trying. I'll get some here as soon as I can!)
