Problem Solved

A couple months ago I noticed Hollyn starting to stick her finger in her nose, then immediately into her mouth.  Seeing that it was quickly becoming a regular occurrence, and fearing that once a solid habit it would never be broken, Brian and I knew we needed to try to nip it in the bud.  We tried to really hit it home with her with the typical phrases she could understand like, "that's yucky!", "no, no", "don't eat that", etc.  But nothing was working.  Once she even fought me as I tried moving her hand down and she used her might to keep going.

I thought it might be hopeless.  Then one day in desperation I told her, "Hollyn, that's yucky.  It's OLD."  I said that because while trying to think of synonyms for yucky, I had a thought about how she won't drink from sippy cups that we tell her are old.  And she's even used that reasoning herself when she didn't want to drink some water that had been prepared an hour or so earlier.  So when I used that word regarding her nose-picking, her eyes got really big.  "It's old?" she asked.  "Yes" I told her.  And that was the end of that.  A habit that had been occurring regularly throughout the day for over a week has not happened since that conversation.

So, just so you know, if Hollyn ever tells you that you're old, never worry.  It only means she thinks you're gross. ;-)