Fingers

Fingers. They come in all shapes and sizes and colors. Fingers do lots of wonderful things. My mother' fingers play the piano and organ and type about 100 words per minute. My father-in-law's fingers also play the piano and organ. My mother-in-law's fingers cook and journal and serve in the church. My father's fingers garden and write wonderful letters to my children.

My husbands fingers do it all. His hands are strong and masculine and skilled and willing to help. My hands and fingers also do it all (except for pump gas and take out the trash). Fingers are important parts of our bodies and it would be difficult to live without them.

Believe it or not, three of my five children were born with chocolate-coated fingers. Oh, yes. It's true. Well, it must be. Why else would they suck on their fingers as if they were the most delicious thing they'd ever tasted?

Dallin never sucked his fingers. Neither did Mimi. Elijah sucked his fingers until he was 2 1/2 years old.

As you can see, Felicity is still a big fan of her fingers.

And she doesn't just suck on them.

The first couple months of Bree's life, she was soothed by a binky.

The binky days were nice while they lasted.

Or some time in her baby swing.

The days Bree was content in her baby swing were nice, too. But they are just about over.

Or someone's loving arms.

Shelly loves Bree. She really loves to hold and cuddle and kiss her.

Bree falls asleep on her daddy's shoulder almost every night.

I remember when Bree was happy to have me hold her all the time, and I was happy to oblige her.

But lately, Bree has joined Felicity and Elijah in the finger-sucking fan club.

"Who me?" says Bree. "I don't suck my fingers!"

"Bet me!" says Mommy. "Here's the proof!"

Don't her fingers look yummy?

And talented! She sometimes gets her index finger up inside her nose while sucking the others!

Most of the time, if Bree is sleeping, she's got her fingers in her mouth. Isn't she beautiful? Is there anything more peaceful than a sleeping baby?

Occasionally, Bree will suck on the fingers of anyone who happens to be holding her at the time.

Case in point! Poor Daddy!

I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I sucked my thumb until I was nearly 10 years old. It took my parents dangling something I really wanted in front of my nose (getting my ears pierced like all my girlfriends) to get me to stop. Admittedly, I might still do it to this day if it wouldn't ruin my teeth and my social life. Yeah, I liked it that much.

Elijah no longer sucks his fingers and I hope that someday I won't have to dangle something they really want in front of their noses to get them to stop. However, what goes around, comes around...

Just for fun, Dallin and Elijah posed for some pictures showing some of the many things their fingers can do:

Like make funny faces.

Like do the "Mr Spock".

Like making shadow puppet dog.

Like popping making a popping sound from inside the cheek.

Like supporting your body for a headstand.

Fingers do amazing things.

Love, Cara