Weening

So one of my friends is weening her 1 year old and having a rough time with it. I am so proud of her and I definitely admire her for loving it so. It makes me think of my own kiddos and since I want them to know all about their childhood, I should probably mention the weening process.

While I am so glad I nursed both of them, I was not in love with nursing. It's not that I disliked the closeness with my children, but I didn't like being on-call 24/7 or the isolation when others were around (which is why the hooter hider with Matalley was SOO great!) or the mess (everyone knows I'm a germaphobe) or pain (Grayson had a tongue tie) or just that my body still wasn't my body after almost 2 years. I was so ready for Grayson's first birthday and within 2 weeks, we were completely done with the weening process. I felt bad on his birthday because he really wanted his 5 o'clock feeding and I just wouldn't do it. Wasn't that mean of me? We had started about 3 weeks before his birthday giving him whole milk at lunch while I was working. It was a little tough on me because I stopped going to daycare at lunch to feed him so I missed seeing him but apparently he got on fine without me. On his birthday, I gave him milk at his after work feeding and within 2 weeks, he was done. I didn't think it would happen so fast but I was glad to have some freedom.

Matalley didn't quite make it a year. Her last feeding was Christmas Day...11 months old. She pretty much weened herself. We started supplementing with whole milk at about 10 months because she was so underweight and the doctor thought the whole milk would help her bulk up a bit. As I've mentioned many times, the girl must just have a bottomless pit because she gains at the same pace, even on whole milk. I was sad that it ended but more because she was growing up, not that I missed the nursing thing. It's nice to be able to go to the store without worrying if I'm going to have to sit in the hot car for a quick feeding and that I can wear whatever shirt/dress I want.

And I still get my cuddling time in with the kiddos, it's just spent differently. Grayson loves his bedtime stories and Matalley will let me rock her in the morning when she first wakes up.

It's hard to watch them get bigger but exciting too. Matalley's call for Grayson is recognizable now..."Graykay" and she is a speed walker...chest out, head back, lean forward, and she's off. Grayson can recognize his written name and is such a big help with the dishes (water does tend to go everywhere but it's nice that he wants to do them).Edited to add the picture...notice the water everywhere, especially his shirt.