thumb sucking, chefs and doctors

I recently read how thumb sucking can be an inherited trait. I now understand how true that is. We have ultrasound pictures of both kids sucking their thumbs in my belly. One of their parents....not me...was a thumb sucker as a child too. Brinley was 3 months old before she could get her thumb in her mouth, but Mr. Clayton is excelling early and found his thumb at 2 weeks old! I have found advantages and disadvantages of thumb sucking. In a baby, it is wonderful not having to get out of bed to put a pacifier in when they wake up crying. It also is nice to have that baby soothe themselves instead of me having to do it! In a 2 year old, it is a hard habit to break, at least with a pacifier you can throw them away to stop the behavior! Plus, we have to wash our hands all the time to get rid of the germs since her thumb goes in her mouth! Anyways, here are pictures of my little thumb suckers!



Clayton sucking his thumb at 4 weeks old
Brinley sucking her thumb at 3 months old
Brinley has been a busy and energetic girl lately. Her energy has reached a level I never thought possible these past few weeks! Her and Jason can run the perimeter of our entire back yard several times and he gets tired before she does! We have to find ways to tire her out just to get her to go to bed at night! Even then she will be in her bed for an hour singing or chatting away before falling asleep! One of her favorite things to do everyday is play at her kitchen. She got new food and a chef outfit for Christmas. So she loves to get dressed up and cook us food.
Another of her favorite things to do (which I haven't taken a picture of yet) is get dressed up in her princess costumes and high heels and dance and sing all around the living room with her arms doing ballerina poses. When her routine is done she will take a bow and say,"thank you, thank you" before we have had a chance to clap! She will even do it when we are in public. This girl likes to entertain...maybe she will make us a lot of money being famous one day!

On a side note, both kids are sick right now. Clayton has the sniffles. As long as he is sitting upright with a pacifier, he is happy. Brinley has a cough and double ear infection. I took her to the doctor for the cough because it was keeping her up at night, but the doctor looked in her ears and was shocked to see how infected they were...considering Brinley was dancing around me the whole time :) She has shown no signs of her ear hurting and hasn't acted sick at all. Her pain tolerance is amazing!