weaned

I am still putting off sorting through all the vacation photos. As much as I love the idea of digital cameras, they actually make your life so much more difficult. I can't handle looking at 100 pictures of the same thing to choose the ONE that is the best to put in my post. Anyway, one of these days I'll get around to it, but for now you get mostly words. 

At the end of last month I (finally) nursed my son for the final time. He was two weeks past two years and we were both (finally) ready. It was a painless process for both of us. I can imagine it would have been more difficult (both emotionally and physically) for us if weaning would have come earlier, but by the time we actually did it we had been gradually weaning for months and months so it came easy. For me, it was a picture perfect way to end that chapter with my firstborn. The only real side effect of not nursing before bed/nap time has been that he is not quite as sleepy when I lay him in his bed, which results in pictures like the one above. He plays around in his bed and requests things to sleep with. Before I had a child I'm sure I would've sworn that if my child made silly demands before bedtime ("I want to sleep with my cowboy hat!" or "I need to sleep with my ReAl Salt Lake jersey on!") I would have promptly ignored them and he would've learned to go to sleep without so much as a peep. I can tell you now that I am not that mother. I'm certainly not a pushover, but I also think I've realized that if letting your child sleep with his cowboy hat will make it so that he goes right to sleep rather than screaming for 20 minutes, it is totally worth it. We both win-- I get him to bed, and he gets his hat. 

Also sort of about weaning-- is it a sign that I nursed my child for too long if he is weaned and potty trained in the same month? :) I haven't wanted to push potty training, but he is making it hard to ignore. He tells me before he needs to go and if I put him on the toilet he goes. I know that if I just spent a couple of days at home with him in underwear he could be potty trained, I just haven't been able to talk myself into it yet. Not because of the actual potty training itself, just because I can see all the stress of having to run my barely two year old to a bathroom in a public place every time we go somewhere. Maybe next week I'll be up for it...

And lastly, also sort of about weaning-- my husband and I are leaving Baby G overnight for the first time in his life tonight. Now that nursing isn't a part of his bedtime routine, and now that he is two, we are feeling like he would love a sleepover with his grandparents (and doting aunts and uncles), and we are feeling ready for a little getaway. We will be away probably less than 24 hours, but it kind of seems like a big deal to me. I am pretty excited about it, and totally not nervous about leaving my little boy. I know he will be in good hands and I know he will probably not even miss us. I'll let you know how it goes when we come back. Probably before I ever get around to blogging about last month's big vacation...