Thumbs Up for Reilly!

Nothing was working. Not tape, not gloves, not a threat from Santa, not the derision of three older brothers, and certainly not the nasty toxic fingernail polish I bought on the internet for $7. I think he was in collusion with his cousin Indy. At my wits end with thumb sucking, I took Reilly to the dentist last month and insisted they install "the appliance" in his mouth. After hearing my plea, the dentist took one look at Reilly and said, "I can put this $500 appliance in there, but this is obviously a kid who is smart enough and determined enough to bend it and jam his thumb in there anyway. Isn't there anything in this world he wants that costs less than $500 that you could use to bribe him?" With great trepidation, I turned to Reilly and asked him. He immediately responded, "Yep. I want a baseball bat." OKAY! I could be out of this for around $40! We've been denying his request for a new bat since last summer, pointing him to the well-stocked, hand-me-down bin in the garage. But now we were talking! With the dentist as witness, we brokered a deal for one month of NO thumbsucking in exchange for weekly slurpees and a baseball bat at the end. We had one re-start three days in, but as of this Tuesday, Reilly has gone a whole month thumb free! Tonight Dad took him to the sporting goods store and they picked out a beauty... but nothing's as beautiful as that smile!.... and it only cost us $22.79!