My first attempt at cutting back on nursing Kaelyn failed miserably. But a couple of days later she got into snacking. As you can see from this picture, she also enjoys throwing her snacks around the room. Kaelyn still won't put anything in her mouth, but she'll open her mouth like a little birdie for mama to put a cheerio or veggie puff in. Last week she was having a GREAT happy day and was just in a wonderful mood. So I thought it'd be a good day to see how long she could go without nursing. We proceeded as normal in the morning and at breakfast. She nursed around 10 as normal but then ate a big lunch and didn't seem at all interested or hungry for nursing again until 2:30. She napped for an hour and a half and then ate lots of snacks when she got up. I was hoping hoping hoping she would make it till bedtime without nursing and she did! She ate a big supper and was just happy as a lark all evening. So we started that new pattern. That means she's only been eating 4 times a day instead of 5! THough she still gets up several times a night and sometimes nurses then as well.
Today was a bit of an off day, though. Kaelyn was normal and happy until about 1pm and then she just kept reaching out to me and crying and crying. So I let her nurse that extra time. I still don't know if that was the problem or not because she was still crabby after. Though nursing perked her up for a little while. Tomorrow we'll try to go back to the new schedule of 4 feedings a day and snacks and meals. If only she would eat REAL solids and not just baby food. Other than her cheerios and veggie puffs she just makes the most HORRIBLE face at any real food. She'll take one bite and then just push my hand away. I even tried to hide real bananas in her baby food bananas. I don't know HOW she knew, but she KNEW! And she did NOT appreciate the efforts! :)
Kaelyn's grandma and grandpa (Sean's parents) came to visit last weekend. Sometimes they bring their own toys to entice her to come over to them! Hey, whatever works! This time, though, they left their toys behind! And Kaelyn is SO thrilled with that! Here's a picture of her riding the princess riding/push toy. It lights up. It plays music. It does it all! I was pushing her around and around the circle in our kitche/play room SO fast the day after they left it here and she was giggling hysterically. I finally wore out and just started pushing her back and forth in one place. She giggled just as much! I was like, aw man, I could have been doing THIS the whole time? This is SO much easier!!! Figures. She hasn't giggled as hysterically since but she still greatly enjoys it. She'll push it around and around and then ride it around and around. TOo bad I have to help her push it! SHe's not the best at steering. She'll run it into a wall repeatedly and then get frustrated. So my back has seen better days but what do you do, it keeps her happy!
Kaelyn still loves flipping through books. Pulling them out of the box we have them in is fun as well. There are some lift the flap books that can entertain her for 15-20 minutes at a time! THat's a LONG time for a short attention span. But that's only if the flap-lifting has sound effects...which I have created! I'm still stumped on what sound to make for a couple of them, but for the most part, they each have a sound and every time she lifts it I make the sound. She really giggles at the sheep going baaaa. I guess I make a good sheep sound, not sure. She also likes the "heave ho!" and "oh no" sounds. Hard to describe, you'd have to see it sometime...and I don't think you will! I'm a little shy about my lift the flap sound effects, ha!
The books that are easier on me are the ones that make sounds themselves. Though Kaelyn seems to get stuck on ONE sound and push it OVER and OVER and OVER again. Good thing it's happy noise so it can't possibly be annoying, right? :)
I'm hoping we can go back to our 4 feeding schedule tomorrow and have success from here on out. If we can go a week or so with it going well then I'll probably try to experiment again and see if we can whittle things down even further. I still have in mind that I'd like her to mostly be done nursing by a year of age or so. If we go a few months after, that's okay, whatever she needs. I'm just ready to not be SO tied down. I can't go anywhere alone for more than a couple of hours. It'll be nice to have that option. Not that I intend to USE that option very regularly, but still, just knowing that I COULD would be SO freeing. I think I'll nurse some parts of nursing. THe way she plays with my hair sometimes...puts her finger in my mouth to play with my teeth, gazes up at me, cuddles into me...okay, maybe I'm NOT ready to be done nursing...oh but the freedom it will bring! I can wear a regular bra again that doesn't unclip. I can take her out to eat without wondering where I'm going to go to feed her. I don't have to keep my eye on the clock constantly when I'm away from her to rush back to her so I don't leave my mom or Sean with a hungry baby they can't feed.
It'll happen. Eventually. Like with sleeping through the night. And like with that, I just wish I knew WHEN so I could have a time frame and look forward to that. Especially with sleeping through the night! If I just had a date or general age range...then I could make it one night at a time looking ahead to that time. But I guess when Kaelyn decides to sleep, Kaelyn will sleep! What do you do! When Kaelyn wants to eat REAL food, she'll eat REAL food! Until then, all I can do is keep trying!
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