This post is one day late because, well, I thought your birthday was March 31st. It only took 16 months to get your birth date wrong in my head, but I’m going to go ahead and claim pregnancy brain on that one.
This month was a big one for you and I because I finally stopped nursing you. I had been weaning you for a month or so. You had been nursing 4 times a day from 9 months to about 14 months. My first step was to cut your nap time feedings. This was the hardest step. Chris took a few naps during the weekends to start the process, and we gave you pouches as a replacement for a week or so, but you adjusted pretty quickly. After about a couple weeks, we dropped the morning feeding. This was harder than I expected because I didn’t think you’d notice if I quickly gave you breakfast in the morning. After about a month of only feeding you before bedtime, we dropped that feeding too. The rationale was two-fold: it was starting to REALLY hurt me since I was pregnant and I wanted you to be weaned far in advance of the new baby’s birth so you wouldn’t be jealous (I had NO intentions to tandem feed. Yikes.) I cried the last night of nursing because it’s just another sign that you’re growing up, but you’ve still let me rock you to sleep, so I am still happy!
Speaking of sleep, you’ve dropped down to one nap. You lasted a lot longer than most of your baby friends, but I was sad to give up that second nap! So far, your single nap has been around noon every day and has lasted for about two hours.
This month, you’ve also sprouted a fifth tooth and become quite the little walker. You were a pretty tentative walker at first, but you’ve gotten so confident. In fact, you had your first walking related injury this month. I had taken you to a butterfly encounter at the Chattahoochee Nature Center (which ended up being a dud because of the hundreds of yellow jackets swarming the place!), and you took a little tumble down a hill. Your teeth hit the inside of your lip and you bled quite a bit. Mommy felt awful, but you recovered after about 10 minutes. You’re my happy little trooper!
You also (FINALLY) survived your first full hour in the nursery at church yesterday. Granted, we were really inconsistent about putting you in there, but every time we tried, you cried….or screamed…until we came to get you. You cried for about 10 minutes yesterday, but ultimately cheered up and had a good time! This made me feel so much better since you’ll be starting Mother’s Morning Out in just over a month!
You are such a happy girl! I can’t get over all the things you are content to go along with. You love to play play play all day in the den, running around and throwing your toys all over the place. You also LOVE the dogs. We get close to our house and you start making little “barking” noises. Once we get you in the house, you make a bee line to them. You’re always giving them kisses and hugs, even if it’s just their pictures on our phones. You can be a little exhausting because you’re always moving, but you are so happy that it makes me happy just to watch you do whatever it is you’re doing. As I’ve been typing this, you’ve been throwing a little ball around the den and running after it!
Some of your favorite things right now are: putting your stackable rings on your wrists (we call them your floaties); your Elmo briefcase that has lots of letter shapes in it; Little People figurines; going to the park when mommy can handle the heat…; balls; and carrying things around in bags. You still love food, but your favorites are berries, cheese, and yogurt.
The new baby doesn’t know how high you’ve set the bar. You are so kind, sweet, and happy! We love you SO much and can’t wait to continue watching you grow!
