Baby Thumb

Just before Felix was born, Angus welcomed an addition of his own to the family. We first noticed this addition around bedtime and when he was tired. He would wrap his little sleeping bag or sheet around the thumb on his left hand. Then gently stroke it with his right hand. Every bit as strange as it sounds. But at the same time, oddly adorable. We didn't think much of it, as he had never taken to a dummy or sucked his thumbs, we assumed this was his special way of comforting himself.


As the weeks went by, the household was turned upside with the birth of Felix and subsequent newborn chaos. Angus' thumb comforter, began to take on a more active persona. He would sidle up next to me and carefully place his wrapped thumb to my lips, urging me to kiss it. The pleasure was not exclusively mine, he would also offer his thumb to Scott and my Mama, for kisses. Scott not always entirely comfortable with the honour bestowed on him. Then one day Angus announced casually that he was going to wrap his 'baby thumb'. In that moment, it all became clear. He had watched on during my pregnancy with Felix, as my tummy grew and grew. He had listened to us talk of the tiny baby forming inside. He had come along to ultrasounds, obstetrician appointments and witnessed a brand new baby come into our lives. Angus had developed his very own version of a baby to care for... it made him feel secure.


I will NEVER forget the night I was breast feeding Felix, Angus sitting across from me, on the lounge next to Scott. Ever so purposefully, he lifted his top and placed the wrapped thumb to his nipple. Before exclaiming, "I'm giving baby thumb a feed too!". I think it took every ounce of control we had in us, to hold back the tears. Tears of hilarity. Over the course of the last 10 months, certain subtle changes in the way baby thumb is wrapped have emerged. Currently, he uses a clean tissue... and it HAS to be clean, thankfully he insists on that.


So baby thumb has become somewhat of a personality in our household. As bizarre as we find it and as much as we have worried about whether it is just a phase or something more serious we're dealing with. At the end of the day, we let it play out. For now anyway. It is still awkward when having to explain to friends, family or the teachers at preschool, why our 3 year old son likes to wrap his thumb in a tissue for comfort. But I guess there are worse habits he could be partaking in. Surely it's a slim chance baby thumb will be around by the time he starts school. Surely!?