Leila's thumb

Leila is 5 and still very attached to her thumb sucking habit and "nigh-night" blankets (silky edged).  She still twiddles her hair when she is tired and the thumb is a constant at bedtime and in the car.
At dance classes the teachers are now enforcing a "no thumb sucking" rule.  She finds it very difficult, and the other girls don't like holding her hand when it is slobbery.
A couple of years ago our old family dentist looked at her unusual palate and overbite, and then told us that she was "pulling her bone forward", and had to stop the thumb habit immediately.  I sought a second opinion, thinking to myself that my then 3 year old's capacity for stubborn willfulness was the off-the-charts, that it would be the mother-of-all battles, and I shouldn't take it on unless prepared to win.  I feared destroying my relationship with the child.  I also looked at my own overbite, and thought, surely this is genetic?
Fortunately I happened to pick Dr Arneman's name out of the orthodontist ad list.  She rang me back on a public holiday and talked to me for nearly an hour, saying that I should absolutely not interfere so early (Dr Arneman was a thumb sucker herself) and we organised to make an appointment for the second term of Kindergarten.  The advice sounded very age appropriate - Leila might need her self-soothing thumb settling into school so why take it away too soon?
Our first appointment (last year) was amazing.  I've never seen a health professional better at establishing repor with a child:  Leila was "eating out of her hand" and at her adorable precocious best.  They came to an arrangement: when Leila successfully stops sucking her thumb (for several months) she will get a cat of her very own and Dr Arneman will buy her a whole bag of cat food.  Leila skipped out of the surgery with new toothbrushes and toothpaste for herself and her sisters.  She had been given a special pink pen to use on a calendar to mark off the days of successful abstinence.  We were instructed to MEOW at her when she needed reminding, but also encouraged to let Leila choose for herself.  No pressure.
Leila enthusiastically coloured in two months ahead on her little keep-track calendar, and then cried herself to sleep trying to keep her thumb out of her mouth that first night.  Her good intentions waned, and she complained that its all my fault she has the habit in the first place.
Sigh.  It is true.  When I helped Leila find her thumb it coincided with the end of her horrendous baby colic.  Her self-soothing was such a relief for the entire family that I said she could suck it till she was 20 as far as I was concerned.  I loved it.  Her peaceful sleeping thumb sucking was the most beautiful and healing thing to sit and watch (after several months of living with an inconsolable screaming overtired and in-pain infant).
At our followup appointment this week, we had to confess that Leila still loves her thumb.  She does still want a cat, but it is not going to happen for a while.  We were pleased to find that her overbite has reduced by about 20% (growth related) and we are now waiting for her 6 year old molars to appear before we measure again.  She is also not shh-shing her s's as much as she did at 3 years of age.  In December we might discuss an anti-thumb sucking device, but there is no hurry.
I love our orthodontist!  All that reassureance, a great relationship with the child and no charge for this weeks appointment!