Matthew's Thumbdex

Every time I look down at Matthew's beautiful 4 fingered hands, I am amazed. He is so much more proficient without his thumbs than I ever expected he would be.  I love watching him hold a pencil, grab a handle, or use a fork.  He uses that index finger just like a thumb.  But when needed, he uses it as an index finger too-- to point, to pick his nose, or to choose Peek A Boo Barn on the iTouch.  That finger is his multifunctional finger-- his thumbdex.   

This morning I thought a lot about that thumbdex as I began to modify a pair of mittens for Matthew.  I cut off the thumbs and sewed them up.  When I tried them on Matthew, he threw a fit.  He despised the mittens.  Thinking about it later, it makes perfect sense. I wouldn't like having all of my fingers confined either!  So, I found a pair of small gloves, cut off the thumbs, and sewed them up.  When I tried them on Matthew, he loved them. Yippee for the 4 fingered gloves!

Matthew does still struggle a bit with his fine motor skills, but it isn't the most concerning developmental area with Matthew.  We continue to see occupational therapy to help him improve. 

As far as the hand surgery to move his index finger to the thumb position (pollicization), we have decided to postpone that decision for likely another year plus.  Though TSRH was willing to do the surgery after Matthew turned 2, the plastic surgeon we originally saw at TCH recommended doing it after they turned 4.  So we have a while more to think through that decision.  Matthew is doing amazingly well without right now.