bye bye baby

The time to wean Claire has finally come. I have been tossing the idea around for months now, but the time never seemed quite right. She had trouble gaining weight, then she was sick, then she was having trouble sleeping, then finally she was sleeping well who wants to mess with that? Not to mention the fact that I am kind of lazy and find changes to our routine stressful.

The funny thing is nursing was not that important to me in the beginning. When Abby was born I figured I would try it and maybe do it for a few weeks, certainly not longer than 6 weeks, since I was going back to work after 12 weeks and the thought of pumping milk- yuck. Yet somehow, here I am finally reclaiming my boobs from a toddler with 16 teeth.

Nursing a toddler is nothing like nursing a baby. With babies there are boobs and milk everywhere, all the time. They need milk. They can not be without you. You can not be without them. Your day revolves around it. A toddler is a fully functional person by day with a secret little addiction. Kind of like a hidden pack of cigarettes or a stash of chocolate bars. They can get by without it if you happen to want to go out and you are just fine too. But it remains a small connection to babyhood as well as a quick, easy way to comfort at 6 am when you just want more sleep. Everyone wins.

But I have decided that this peaceful rainy day is the day. Weaning a toddler presents challenges not covered in the typical wean your baby article. They talk. And understand. Sort of. So I told Claire that the milk is all gone. She is big like Abby now so it is gone. She whined a bit, peered down my shirt a couple of times then agreed to read her favorite Elmo book and go to bed. End of story. Bye Bye baby.