Yes ! Its Plugged OFF these days :)
For those of you who do not know whats a plug, its simply thumb sucking :). To know more about it, read
this post.
Atlast, Jillu has stopped the habit and I have been waiting to make sure before blogging and making it official :).
Its been a month now since she sucked her thumb. So I guess its pretty safe to say that she has indeed left the habit. We have also got her a couple of gifts (games) to mark the occasion :)
The whole thing started prior to the Pooja holidays. I was planning to apply the bitter nail polish on her thumb during the holidays so that her timings is not affected (she just cannot sleep without it). So from 15 days before the holidays, I kept telling her that "one fine day, when you wake up, your thumb will taste bitter and 20 days from that day, your thumb will go into your stomach and you will lose your thumb".GROSSSS ! I know. But I had to do something ! I knew just applying would take me nowhere! She laughed it away and went on her way till the holidays. But I kept issuing the warning every day.
And then, 2 days into the holidays, I applied the nail polish on her thumb early in the morning when she was sleeping. I was just relying on the surprise and the secret factor. And it worked ! MY GOD ! Poor thing ! She was confused and also a bit scared when she realized that what Amma said was true and whatever Amma said was indeed happening ! And then the frequency of plug started to reduce day by day as she found her thumb bitter whenever she woke up from sleep. But as days went by, and when Jillu found that the thumb was indeed in tact and showed no signs of vanishing into the stomach, the fear factor went away and I started to lose the ground I had gained.
And then luck favored me ! I should not say luck really, because Poor Jillu suffered ! But its indeed a blessing in disguise. She had severe mouth ulcers and could not eat anything, let alone, put plug. And thats when the habit really stopped. In the week that she was suffering from mouth ulcer, she did not put the plug even once. And all of us used it to our advantage and told her "See, the boils came because of plug. The moment you start again, its going to come back". Poor Jillu had suffered so much (only curd rice every meal, no variety, no talking which I think she found the most difficult :), and so on) that she didn't want to risk again.
And now its been a month and she has been clean till now. And I hope this continues and is for ever.
But, her drifting off into sleep has taken a major blow and I am finding it very difficult to put her to sleep. Earlier, she would put the plug and would be off to sleep soon. But now, without that, she is struggling to get into a proper position, wriggles this way and that way and takes for ever to sleep even when she is sleepy.
Hopefully this is also just a phase and shall pass soon !
HOPE ! HOPE ! HOPE!
