First, I applaud you question about getting parental advice. I've got two little ones (2 1/2 years and 1 year), and am often seeking the advice of folks I work with. Glad to see you putting Web 2.0 to the task.

Second, I'm lucky that I've got two kids that never really went for the thumbs; both have been partial to pacifiers (nuks, or nukifiers, as my almost 3 years old has started calling them.0 I think the brit that posted a reply called the dum dums (or dummy?). Anyway, that's worked for us. Good luck with your parenting adventure, it only gets better from there.