Growing up too Fast!

My little boy is growing up too fast. Just this week he has had a word explosion. Every day he says something new. In the last two weeks he has slept through the night for the first time ever and has done that twice! Big deal for me. We've also slowly been weaning.

Nolan was a very frequent nurser until about 20 months. This meant numerous times during the day and night. At 20 mo I started limiting him some and cut down to just when waking up, before nap, before bed, and anytime he woke in the night (2-3 times).

Every transition was very peaceful for both of us. I didn't force it but just saw how'd he'd do if I stopped offering. The hardest step was the first one and that was when I stopped just letting him nurse whenever he asked during the day. Any time he asked randomly throughout the day I redirected him towards something fun. If he fussed or got really upset I let him nurse and tried again later. Eventually it just wasn't something he thought of unless we were in his bedroom in the rocking chair.

The morning feeding was simple to drop as he was ready to go explore and nursing was only slowing him down. Naptime amazingly went well too. One day instead of sitting down in our chair where he immediately expects to nurse I grabbed his blankie and binky and stood up rocking him. He laid his head down on my shoulder and after a few minutes I laid him in bed. He didn't make a peep and we haven't nursed at naptime since. Recently Nolan has been sleeping better . On those night he doesn't nurse much if at all in the night. Since we have had days with just one nursing session total, tonight I decided to go for it.

After his bath I grabbed his blankie and slung it over my shoulder. Then he laid his head down on my shoulder and I rocked him back and forth while standing for only about 5 seconds before he motioned to his crib and leaned for it. Since he asked, I laid him down. I said goodnight and told him I loved him then he took out his paci, said "Bye Bye", and waved at me. It's been an hour and I haven't heard a peep!!


While I'm not saying we've completely weaned it's still a bittersweet moment. I wanted to nurse until he was 2 at a minimum but due to some personal medical issues decided to transition him slowly as long as he was okay with it. We made it 22 months for sure! Considering Nolan never took a bottle that's a lot of work!

Apparently he thinks he is big enough to ride with no carseat. Not yet my little one!