TJ Pitchford For Soothing. "I'm OK". Think of baby pacifiers.
   They suck on the pacifier because mom takes the thumb out of the
   mouth (thumb was first) and it frees up the hand for other
   things. Then its bottles. Then juiceboxes. Somewhere late in
   juicebox time, moving towards Sunny-D/Monster time, getting
   friends becomes really important (like age 7-8 and beyond) - and
   at that point, "Good jo...b" and "attaboy" and "Like" and
   "You're cute/hot/awesome/sexy/amazing/beautiful/pretty/manly" or
   even "you're smart/you're talented" "I rate you a 10" - replaces
   the pacifier/bottle/juicebox for a source of comfort and a way
   of feelling "I'm ok". "