Hazel Achieved a Big Goal

 Hazel responds very well to rewards and sticker charts, so a couple of months ago, we whipped one up to help her stop sucking her thumb.  She has been busting her tail trying to kick her bad habit and has been very on-board with the whole process.  This weekend, she placed her final sticker on the chart and earned her grand finale reward.  We are very proud of her!  (This doesn't mean she never sucks her thumb, though, just that her chart is full, so don't judge if you see it pop in.  We still let her suck her thumb when she's in bed, and she has a hard time keeping it out when she's stressed or really tired.) 

If she lasted from morning to lunch without sucking her thumb, she could put a sticker on the chart.  If she lasted from lunch to bedtime, she earned another sticker.  Each time she completed a row of 10, she got a treat of her choice (a sucker or M&Ms).  And once the chart was full, we could go to the bakery at the grocery store and order a fancy cake.  This was a big deal to her, because she's long admired the cakes on display and always wants to look at them when we shop there.  (They have princess cakes, Tinkerbell, SpongeBob, Dora, etc. all in a display case and a book full of other options to glance through, too.) 

So on Friday we went to Lucky's and placed our order.  She turned page after page in the book until she came to the super-pink Barbie cake, and then was very definite that that was the one she wanted.  It was a very loooong, hard wait til Monday when the cake was ready to be picked up. 

We got it at lunchtime on Monday.  Everyone at the store asked if it was her birthday, and Hazel very proudly explained that it was for not sucking her thumb, and that she filled up her entire sticker chart, and that we were going to have cake for Family Home Evening treat!!!  Then she spent the whole afternoon admiring the cake and counting down the hours.  She gave me an enormous hug and when I kissed her on the cheek, she turned my face toward hers, straight on, and gave me a loooooong smooch on the lips!  Then she said, "I am in love with you, Mommy.  I want to marry you."  She was that happy! 

We had some friends over to share the cake with us Monday night, and when that didn't finish off even half of the cake, I decided to take it to the park the next day.  The moms with young children in my church congregation meet at a different area park every Tuesday morning, and today just happened to be the park next to us, so it was super easy to bring the cake over and tell everyone to eat up!  They finished it off, but the best part was all the additional acknowledgment Hazel received for her hard work.  She was bursting with pride from all the attention, and I'm hoping that'll hold her over and help her stick to her guns now that the reward chart is full.