Birthday Wrap-Up

I think it's safe to say that Lilly's 4th birthday party was a success. She and her little friends (including cousin Avery) had a blast. In fact, it was so fun, even the birthday girl didn't care as much about cake and presents as just playing. I felt like a meanie telling her she had to stay at the table because Chuck E. Cheese was about to come out for the birthday "show." In true Lilly fashion, she covered her ears when the show started, but fortunately they turned down the volume. She and her little friends had a great time dancing on the stage with the singing characters, and each got their picture taken with the "real" Chuck E. Cheese.

Even though the party host was in charge of the schedule, we were still beat when it was over! I thought I might need an adult beverage to wind down after the party, but Elliott and I were conked out by 9:00, no beverage required.

On another big note, Lilly is in the process of breaking her thumb sucking habit. We started on her actual birthday, because 4 year-olds don't suck their thumbs. She took that statement as truth and agreed to the reminder of a band-aid on her thumb to help her remember. We actually went with 2 band-aids. One big fabric one for the texture effect, and one character one over that to make it fun. She chose Transformers. My precious girl. Anyway, as an extra precaution I bought some of the nasty tasting nail polish stuff and painted her thumb nails. She only sucks her left thumb, but I'd read somewhere that sometimes kids will switch sides in desperation, so I decided to make them both taste bad. (I painted one of mine too so I can keep track of how long the gross taste lasts. It's pretty foul, I must say.)

She has been doing so well! No complaints at all. She didn't nap for the first 2 days, which didn't surprise me, but she has slept at night (probably because she's so tired from not napping) and woken up with the band-aid still dry. I don't think I've ever been more proud of her! This girl has been an avid thumb sucker since she was 4 months old. It is her means of soothing and the reason she has been such a great sleeper. Definitely a tough habit to break, but she's doing it! We keep the band-aids on for sleep time and in the car because that's the other time she sucks her thumb.

We're off to Tahoe today to spend a couple of nights and play in the snow. Hopefully we don't get snowed in!