Officially Weened, Unofficially Two

With Sophie it came easily, at 11 months old she made the decision that she did not want to nurse anymore. I never felt rejected, just relieved that it was not a big deal, she was ready, I was ready - it all just worked out. With Noah we played an entirely different ball game. We started out beautifully, and then hit one of the biggest challenges I have had as a mother when he developed Reflux at 6 weeks old. We persevered and finally got past the worst of it. As much as I wanted to be one of those mothers who can nurse just about anywhere at any time, Noah was not one of those babies that wanted the same, and thus began the ritual that would take us nearly to his 2nd birthday. My mom told me of the days when she nursed little Nick and Allie and how she would look forward to those middle of the night feedings so that she could have some one-on-one time with them. The same was true for me. I loved nursing Noah, those quiet, peaceful moments with your precious child. I never thought we would have done it this long with all the hurdles we encountered, but I feel like we both needed it for one reason or another and we gave it up little by little as we were ready, and in the end no-body was traumatized too much. We have replaced nursing with the next phase of READING! Suddenly Noah, who has never shown much interest in books can't get enough of it, and we find it just as bonding. I can say that I am very proud to have stayed with it for as long as I did, and I wouldn't change a thing.



As far as being 'unofficially 2' well it speaks for itself. Little Mr. Mello, go-with-the-flow Noah now has a thing or two to say about things. He now insists "DEW-T" when putting on clothes, shoes or getting to the dinner table. His independence is starting to show itself in all his little activities. Sophie can be a great help for him too, she gets excited at each new word he can say and is always trying to teach him words, games and anything else she can. He has a big appreciation for Daddy and his "eouk" or 'work'. He is always trying to fix something that is "boke" and needs "tools". It feels so incredibly important at this stage to show him his boundaries so he can blossom within them. Maybe it is easier to see that with boys since he experiments with so many things that are just plainly not acceptable like throwing things and food, spitting, hitting etc... with Sophie it just seemed/seems more subtle and it doesn't help that she is little miss negotiator on just about everything! Anyway, at the moment they are learning to love each other.