the dairy bar has officially closed.

It's a new milestone. the breastfeeding era is now over. the dairy bar has now officially closed. I've been working on cutting out the last morning feed for the past several weeks, my rule was that if Natallie asked for milk in the morning (i.e., signing milk with her pudgy hands), I didn't resist because I didn't really mind nursing her but just thought it was about time that we close the dairy bar. The morning nursing has been such a routine that it was the toughest one to get rid of...I tried replacing with a sippy cup of milk but that just made her mad so I tried bringing her into my room right away instead of staying in her room (where I usually nurse her) and distracting her by looking otu the window but that didn't really work either. I tried getting Simon to get her up and that worked for a one day but as soon as she saw me she would sign milk again. I thought I was going to be nursing her in the morning forever but then it all came down to a bowl of strawberries. Natallie has a sweet tooth (just like her mom) and I knew she would probably love to wake up to something sweet. A chocolate bar would of probably worked but that seemed slightly wrong so last week I tried going into Natallie's room with a bowl of strawberries. Viola! A very happy baby who didn't sign milk anymore.  Too bad it's almost winter and strawberries aren't in season so the last few days I have been mixing up my over-priced strawberries with bananas and frozen berries. It's working....she now wakes up and eats her bowl of fruit on the bed and we look at books together. It's so cute, I love our mornings together.

It's the end of an era. She's almost a little toddler now, she knows about 15 signs, she is starting to say 'mama' and "dada" (although this could be wishful interpretation), she is insisting on eating by herself with cutlery and has got a mouth full of baby teeth, even the ones in the back that I thought they get waaay later! I catch a glimpse of them whenever she is wailing. That teddy that she plays with every morning must be shrinking! Here is 5 days old versus 15 months old.

 

 

 

So I think the next milestone is now skiing right? We'll see what happens at Big White this Christmas! Can't wait!