I really did feel guilty, asking Ray to take Sophie to her dental appointment this morning.

“No way!” he said. “You need to take her so you can hear the dentist complain about her thumbsucking!”

It’s true. While Ray reprimands Sophie constantly for it, I just never could get too upset about thumbsucking. I sucked my own thumb til one day in first grade, when I decided it was too dirty and quit cold turkey. (I do, however, still sleep with my baby blanket. You’d be surprised to hear how many adults do; there’s a secrety society of us out there.)

I have to say that the movie Thumbsucker, which I couldn’t watch in its entirety, no matter how hip and cool and indie flick it is, turned me off for a while. I kept picturing that big, wet thumb. Gross.

But Sophie’s thumb is tiny and cute, and there are so many things to chastize her for, on a given day. I think self-soothing’s a good thing. And she’ll probably need braces someday, anyhow. It’s a victimless crime.

When Ray called, a few moments ago (he did wind up taking her; I had a work deadline I just couldn’t get out of) I fully expected him to put me on the phone with the dentist, so he could yell.

Instead, both Ray and Sophie were downright giddy.

“Guess what?” he said. “The dentist says that Sophie has special teeth. Not special like Down syndrome special, just special in that the way they’re shaped, she can suck her thumb all she wants and it won’t make a difference.”

“Very funny,” I said. “Put the dentist on so we can get this over with.”

But Ray wasn’t kidding. Sophie is cleared to suck her thumb. I’m not so sure about what her speech therapist will say about that, later today (actually, I know just what she’ll say) but for now, I’m going to celebrate. And so is Sophie.

She also got a cavity-free report and praise for good brushing.