Right at the beginning, before we flash-black 18 years Charlie gets off his bike and removes his gloves. It is obvious that he has both thumbs, even though one got shot off at the end of the film!
If it had been that many years between the time the thumb got blown off and when the movie started, I'm sure that Charlie would have had another *FAKE* finger surgically put on.
The Flash-back is in there to establish what caused Charlie to repress his feelings. Note: the little African-American kids are all toddlers. Then they jump to the present time and start the Main story line. Note: the little African American kids are now in there late teens. Unless he put the other little toddlers up for adoption and then adopted fully grown teenagers, there had to be a time lapse between him getting divorced and the first appearance of Hank. Hence the adventure hadn't happened when you saw him in the flash-back, hence his thumb is still attached.
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