Battle of the Thumb

I must update on the status of my ongoing 'battle' over reclaiming 'sovereignty' of my thumb from XX at night. I think I can almost declare victory. For the last month or so, I am able to withdraw my thumb from his grasp whenever I want to without any form of protest or resistance from him. This means no more contorted positions and awkward twistings of my arm muscles as I sleep and no more twiddling of my thumb. A better sleep for me in general.

Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that he is sleeping independently on his own - yet. Instead, he lowers his standard and settles for contact with alternative parts of my body as his source of comfort. So I get a leg on my thorso, an arm over my neck and even little fingers in my hair some nights. But I can live (or sleep) with that so I reckon it's still a vast improvement.

This breakthrough came about one day as I was reading a short story about a parent who over indulge her child. I wondered if I was over indulging XX in this aspect. I've always been half-hearted about taking away his 'source of comfort'. Just like some children can't sleep without their pacifier or a favourite bolster, XX looks so contented and secure when he holds my thumb to sleep. Of course, I must admit I also feel good that I can provide so much peace and calm to him. But I finally reasoned that by taking away my thumb, I'm not actually doing him any harm. It's not that kind of act that will result in psychological disorders when he's an adult. In fact, this is the first step to sleeping independently, an essential development in growing up.

So that night, I told XX firmly 'no more hold hand' and hid my hand away from him. Of course, he protested, but not too fiercely. I ignored him and literally turned my back to him. After less than 5 minutes of whining and kicking me with no response, he laid down on my pillow next to me and went back to sleep. The same thing happened in the morning and again 2 more times the next night. But each episode lasted less than a few minutes before he succumbed to his tireness and went back to sleep again. Since then, no more problems. He'll still try to search for the hand so sometimes I have to hide it between my thighs or somewhere he can't reach. It's quite funny to see him feeling around for it. Then when he can't find them he'll settle for hugging my arm or putting his leg on me. My boy still needs a piece of Mummy ... :-)