Incentive

I've been trying to get Parker to keep his hands out of his mouth since he was three. At first it was age appropriate. Then it was a phase. Then it was disgusting. Obviously, I've failed terrifically at. Sucking on his fingers and generally touching the inside of his mouth is his favorite past-time.

I have, however, discovered something that might end it all. Each time I catch him with his hands in his mouth, I say, "That's one." Then, "Two times." and "Three." You get the picture. The number corresponds to the number of times he has to ask me to play angry birds on my phones before I say yes. So if I catch him once, and then he later asks me to play, I say, No. When he comes back an hour later, I say "no" again if we've made it to two.

Luckily, he has not figured out that he can just stand in front of me and say, "Can I play angry birds? Can I play angry birds? Can I play angry birds?"