Lemonade and Other Things

There is no lemonade in this post.  I was going to post about homemade lemonade so that you could see our pictures from squeezing our own lemons.  It took a whole different turn though and now it should just be titled "Other Things."  Incidentally, here are the pictures that are not relevant to my post in the slightest!

A little known fact about our sweet Littlest is that at times she is quite literally "attached" to her mama... Still, at 18 months old, nursing quite regularly throughout the day.

 While I don't claim to be an "attachment" parent, I have always let her feed "on demand."  I admit that for the most part this worked for us, but in the last few months "on demand" has taken on new meaning.  I was all set to write a post requesting tips on weening until I realized admitted that my baby is actually a toddler and understands a lot more than we give her credit for.  This week after a day demanding to nurse every time something upset her, I decided it was time to cut her off, or at least drop back a bit on the whole nursing thing.

To be honest, I NEVER thought I would nurse this long.
 To be honest, I think it is weird...
No offense to you if you are still nursing your toddler, elementary student, high school graduate, whatever works for you...ehhh or ewe.
To me when I see her next to an infant I think, "she is really to big for this"
That's just me though.
 Don't get offended.

I have heard that nursing is a hot button for people...I'm not judging.   I'm just saying that when we are at the pool and my darling is trying to pull my top down b/c someone splashed her, it's my indication that perhaps it is time to let go of this part of our life.

The following day when it came time for her nap, I basically explained that she was a big girl now and she just had to get in her bed and go night-night.  I was laughing  in my head while explaining this to her, assuming that she wasn't really going to understand the soliloquy I had just delivered.  To my surprise, she got in her bed and laid down for her nap.  To double my surprise, with just a bit of resistance, the same thing happened at bed time.
It has been about 5 days now of cutting way back.  Some days we have managed to skip all nursing sessions.   Unless I plan on waking up way before her in the morning, I think our morning sessions  will be around for a bit longer.
I see the end in sight and hopefully I won't end up like this lady  (not that I'm judging her...I just don't want to breast feed a 3 or 4 year old).

However, if I'm honest, the first night she went down with out me feeding her, I cried.  Kev laughed at me b/c all I have been talking about since our return from England is how I need to stop, and enough is enough...But there you have it I am one big contradiction of a mother.. You know stopping breast feeding is just one step closer to her leaving for college and her wedding and wahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

(Just for interest sake, one day I'm going to go through all of my post and note how often I mention the impending doom of my children leaving for college or getting married..I know I have a problem)

Why do babies grow up so very, very fast?
I've been working on her baby book this past week and that coupled with the weening crack down has me pinning for my babies to be small again.  After our trip to England I actually admitted that our baby days may be behind us now.  To my realistic husband's dismay I may need to retract that statement.  You never know there may still be a little Jones baby on the horizon for us..
In the mean time I officially declare that I need my children to stay small for just a bit longer.
Amen.

Grace and peace