Mysterious Moose

I believe every parent has that one child with that one, bad habit. Well, my oldest son has been sucking his thumb ever since he was a baby. Darian and I have spent four years trying to break that dreaded habit and nothing has worked, at least not until tonight.

We had a pretty good day today. I got some "me" time at the beauty salon after 8 months of doing my own hair in order to save money. Then, the five of us went to the Tanger Outlets in Bluffton, SC to do some window shopping and to get Darian out of the house. He's on a 3 month vacation with the Navy and doesn't know what to do with himself until they ship him off to OCS.

Anyway, while we were there we ate at the Cornerstone Grill. All three of the kids were fascinated with this huge, lifelike moose head that was hanging from the wall. The two-year old kept saying, "Moose going to fall down on me. Moose going to fall down off wall." So me, in my moment of brilliance, said the moose was going to knock on their windows if they are bad and suck their thumbs. Darian smiles at me in agreement.

Let's skip ahead to bedtime. Baths have been taken, bedtime stories have been read. Caleb, the four-year old, decided he was going to suck his thumb to help him fall asleep-his usual routine. I loudly say that the moose is going to come get him. The next thing I know I hear the front door open. I walk down the hallway. Darian's gone. All of a sudden I hear this loud, repetitive knocking on Caleb's bedroom window. Seconds later, the two-year old is in the hallway whining about the moose coming.

Caleb and the baby come running from the back room. Baby Nathan looked more confused than scared. Mr. Thumbsucker was terrified. He shot past me and shut and locked the front door just as Darian was stepping onto the porch. He says, "Close the door, Mommy! The moose is out there! The moose is out there!" To make a long story short-I was finally allowed to open the door to let Darian back in and everyone eventually calmed down and went back to their rooms.

Needless to say, Caleb fell asleep without his trusty thumb and I feel like a terrible mother. Is tramatizing your child out of thumb sucking in lieu of a high dental bill worth it? Hmmm. We'll see how he does tomorrow night.