We have a weaner!

A weaner, not a wiener. Patrick is finally being weaned from nursing! My feelings for nursing have run hot, cold, and lukewarm during pregnancy and, of course, after, when nursing actually happens. You can feel so strongly on something, but it's much different when you actually experience it... like how the people with the most parenting advice are often not parents. Parents, on the other hand, realise advice is not really helpful - HELP is helpful! So get there in the trenches with me! But I digress.... while I was pregnant I really felt strongly that I would like to nurse for at LEAST a year; all the studies are there about the benefits! I should definitely give my child the leg-up. Then, once Patrick was born and the breast-fest began I though he would be SO lucky if I managed to survive three months before cutting him off! What painful, never-ending personal jail you are put in! But eve then I felt simultaneously hot and cold on the topic! I hated that I never got time off from nursing, and even if I DID (like we have some spare formula and my fabulous husbands cut me a few hours to go finish my capstone project) I was still stuck pumping away at the computer lab because of being painfully engorged, meanwhile wondering what harm I was inflicting on my child by abandoning them for 3 solid hours with dreaded formula*, but also hoping he wouldn't get a taste for the stuff and enjoy the ease of the bottle because I am going to force those breastmilk benefits on him, by golly!

*I really don't hate formula. Babies thrive on it just fine! Parents who use formula aren't bad parents! Parents who breastfeed aren't always good parents! But while you're in the trenches, your mind is a little wacky, and if you're taking the time and effort to breastfeed, you'd better believe that Breast is Best!! Or else why are you doing this??

So I survived the first three months, and by the end things were falling into place, my milk regulated so I wasn't a walking water-fountain at the slightest provocation, and Patrick wasn't eating so often so I wasn't quite so resentful of my couch time. So I figured we'd keep going, maybe til 6 months. By 6 months, 9 months of nursing was looking do-able. By 9 months, though, I was positive we would have Patrick weaned at a year, now that he was turned on to big-boy food. But a year came and went and though I continued to be blase on the subject, Patrick was still quite infatuated with nursing and attacked me whenever my shirt was off, or simply licked my shirt if it was still on. At 14 months, though, I found out Baby #2 was preparing for it's grand entrance later this year, so I really started thinking about getting this weaning thing off the ground. Nothing fancy, just cutting out a nursing session here and there and pretending I don't know what he wants when he licks my shirt. I'm happy to report, its working! He's 99% off The Juice, and the last 1% is because I'M lazy and try to stretch out our mornings in bed as long a possible. But that'll stop soon, too. He loves his milk from a sippy cup, and the funny side-effect of nursing now is that when he wants his sippy cup, he points to my chest like "milk!" Haha! Very subtle, Patrick.

Along with weaning we are working on other big-boy things right now, like his bed! And his potty! Joe just wanted to see how he'd do if we switched his make-shift crib into a make-shift bed, and he's been great so far! He still gets sad sometimes at bedtime or nap time, but he doesn't climb out of bed - he just walks to the foot board and holds on while he cries for us! Silly boy. As for the potty, we know it's a little too early to actually train but he has some predictable bathroom schedules, like he doesn't wet his diaper at night - ALL NIGHT! - but then he soaks through about three in a row in the morning... or he always goes pee (or poo, as you all saw) in or immediately after getting out of the tub. So instead of soaking a diaper or pooing in the tub, why not use a potty? SURE ENOUGH - it worked! So we'll be working on that for a long time to come, but we thought the pictures were pretty cute. There it is - our big guy, getting big in so many new ways. *sniff!*

Ah, yes, he also likes to sit and computer and type. Soon he'll be posting blogs, too.

Daddy helps read a few books to keep him occupied. I'm sure he would be even more successful if he would sit down for more than 30 seconds!

Too cute, naked man. Too cute.

Nice bed! We took down our homemade top rails, but the bottom rails (used to hold up the mattress at standard height - the matress is in the trundle box at the moment) handily work to prevent roll-outs.