Weaning the Eskimo

Another post I have been avoiding is this one: the post about weaning the Eskimo. As far as I can tell, there are two reasons to wean your child: 1. It's the right time for you. 2. It's the right time for your child. If you're really lucky, those two coincide. I was lucky. The Eskimo weaned about a month after his second birthday. The last day he nursed was June 18th. Weird that I remember that, huh? But I do, and I likely always will.

I had recently discovered I was pregnant back in June, which explained why it was hurting SO much to nurse the Eskimo. Honestly, it felt like he was chewing on me. I couldn't nurse without cringing and it was reminding me of those first few painful weeks after we brought him home as a newborn. Weaning ended up being pretty simple for us. The Eskimo hadn't been showing nearly as much interest as he used to, and we happened to be heading out of town at that time. I decided the change in routine was a good opportunity to gently wean him. I just stopped asking him if he wanted to nurse, and stopped automatically sitting down to nurse with him at nap and bedtime. If he asked, I nursed him without hesitation, but with the change in our normal routine/location, he kind of forgot about it. He only asked once or twice and then we were done. It made me a little sad that it was so easy, but at the same time I was very grateful.

I am thrilled and blessed to have been able to nurse my son for so long. When I started our nursing journey, I really didn't expect to make it to six months. I was uneducated and we had a very rough start. But, six months came and went, a year came and went, we survived a couple of lengthy nursing strikes, and suddenly two years had passed. I'm sad that we no longer share that bond; I miss the one-on-one time we had before bed every single night. But we've replaced it with reading a story before bed, cuddling, and he recently learned how to say "I love you", which melts my heart every time. So, with the end of one stage, we begin another.

The Eskimo, nursing while reading his favorite book, back in January.

The Eskimo knows I have a tiny baby in my tummy and the other day, he pointed at my breasts and said, "Milk for tiny baby". Well, yeah, pretty much! I hadn't explained any of that to him, but he figured it out all on his own. He asked if he could have some milk, but my supply has completely dried up with the pregnancy, so I told him there wouldn't be any milk until the tiny baby got here. He was completely fine with that. Every so often now, he'll pat my chest and say "milk for tiny baby". It's adorable, but a little embarrassing when we're out in public. ;)

I think this is a really good opportunity to thank my husband for his unwavering support. There were a couple times when I thought I should just give up and wean, and he just looked at me and said, "why?". All the flimsy reasons I had at those times went flying out the window when I realized he not only supported me, but he thought what I was doing was great. We are both looking forward to having a brand new nursling come February!

Announcement

This crunchy mama is expecting baby number 2 in mid-February! We're very excited about the new addition to our family and the Eskimo is excited about being a big brother. Well, as excited as a two-year-old can be about something like that. :) I had my 16 week check up yesterday and the Eskimo accompanied me. He saw me lay down on the table while the doctor looked at my tummy. Everything looked great, but when we got home, he spent the rest of the day trying to get me to look at his tummy while he laid down on the sofa. It was cute! He definitely understands that there's a tiny baby in Mommy's tummy, but when I asked him what we were looking for in his tummy, he said "two tiny babies". Umm.... I hope not! ;)

We had a wonderful summer and spent most of it up North with family and friends. The Eskimo and I head up to Wisconsin and Illinois every summer to visit and avoid heat. This year my husband joined us for the last two weeks of our trip and we all went over to Michigan to visit with friends, hit the beaches, and go canoeing. It was amazing.

We came back at the beginning of August and jumped right back into our daily routine, with one major change. We started potty training! The Eskimo has been ready for this for a while, but I didn't want to start potty training with him only to backslide when we had to sit in the car for two days in a row (yes, we drove all the way up to Chicago/Wisconsin/Michigan and back). It's been going really well, but some days I really think it would just be easier to leave him in diapers. He's great about using the potty, but only when I remind him. And I hate having to be in charge of reminding him all day, everyday to use the potty. I know, I know, I shouldn't complain as this whole process could have been a lot more difficult, but I really don't enjoy being in charge of when another person uses the potty. I'd rather just wash and fold the diapers and be done with it. But, as I said, it's going very well. We have the occasional accident, but only when I fail to remind him to use the potty.

Other than that, things have been going normally, if a bit more slowly than usual what with me gestating and all. Between chasing a two-year-old, working on my masters degree, and adding another shift at work, this mama has been tired lately! I hope that y'all had as much fun this summer as we did!

Prep Time

Wow, we have had a whirlwind couple of weeks around here. The Eskimo turned two at the end of May and there was much celebration to be had! It started off with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa (hooray!) and our first trip down to the Texas coastline. The Eskimo really enjoyed the "big wa-wa" and the sand. Then, when we got back from the beach, I had to dive right into preparations for his party. Everything went off without a hitch, and we had an amazing time. I'll have to write a separate post about the party sometime...

But this post is about prepping for this week. My husband is out of town for work, which is fine, but I realized that I've never actually been completely 100% alone with the Eskimo for that long. Sure, we've been away from Daddy for long stretches of time, but always to visit relatives who could take over when I needed a break. Now I know there are a ton of parents out there who do this whole child-rearing thing all on their own everyday and they're awesome at it. Huge props to all of you! But my slightly compulsive need to over prepare for everything has taken over.

If you don't know, my background is in education. That's what my undergraduate degree is in and I'm currently working on a masters as well. So, I like to plan and I like to be prepared. If there's one thing you learn about lesson planning, it is to prepare way more material than you could ever possibly use. Because there's nothing worse than standing in front of a classroom full of kids with nothing to do. I have taken that same approach to this week. I prepared an extensive list of activities that has a nice mix of outside time, art, learning, and quiet time.

My husband left on Sunday afternoon, and the Eskimo took this opportunity to skip his afternoon nap. Of course. So, I let him wallow in his crib for a little while, then brought him downstairs and made oatmeal play dough. Normally my little man doesn't enjoy getting messy, but this play dough was a huge hit.

Thumbs up!

And I can eat it!

The key here was giving him utensils. An ice-cream scoop, a pastry cutter and a couple cookie cutters had him enthralled. This activity lasted over an hour. When it was all said and done, I didn't have the heart to throw the dough away. I mixed in some more flour, half a cup of sugar, two eggs, a little vanilla extract, baking soda, some coconut oil, and blue food coloring and baked "cookies"in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. I am not skilled at improvisational baking, but I figured these would work as dog cookies if all else failed. They are definitely not the most delicious thing I've ever made, but the Eskimo thinks they are his special cookies and he really enjoyed watching me make them out of his play dough. Plus, they're a pretty healthy snack, so I guess this one's a win. :)

So, we survived Sunday without too much trouble, in spite of the missed nap. My consolation prize was the fact that the Eskimo crashed immediately at bedtime. Phew!

Stir It Up!

I accidentally discovered another fun way to teach the Eskimo his letters today. We have this hand powered egg beater that my grandma bought me a few years ago. Frankly, she was shocked to discover on her last visit that I didn't own one and insisted we go out and find one immediately. After much searching, we found ours at William's Sonoma and if I recall, it cost about $20. She was right, I use it all the time when cooking, but I discovered a new use for it today: learning! The egg beater is one of the Eskimo's favorite kitchen utensils to play with. I gave it to him this morning while I was trying to clean up the kitchen, and looked over to see him sitting on his foam alphabet mat, mixing away. I stopped what I was doing and started asking him to mix certain letters: Can you mix the D? Which letter are you mixing now? Look, you're mixing the P!

We went through about half the alphabet this way before he got bored and wandered off to play with something else. This reinforced the letters with which he is already familiar and gave him a chance to mix up some unfamiliar letters as well.

If you don't own one of these foam alphabet mats, you could always write the letters out on pieces of paper and tape them to the floor, but I highly recommend purchasing the foam letters. We use them every single day, whether he's using the mat as a runway to jump into my arms (my favorite way to wear him out before bed!), or he's stomping on letters as we call them out. These were given to us as a gift, but I think they are fairly cheap and they are definitely worth it.

Cookie Sheet Painting

I've been a little bored with our regular painting routine lately and decided it was time to shake things up a bit. I started by putting four blobs of paint on an old cookie sheet:

Then, I gave the Eskimo a silicone basting brush that I have never once used for basting... might as well get some sort of use out of it! I let him spread the paint all over the cookie sheet with the brush, and inevitably, his hands. Then, I took some paper and pressed it onto the cookie sheet. Voila!

These are some of my favorite pieces of art that the Eskimo has created. I apologize for the complete lack of action photos. This very quickly turned into an activity that needed a high level of supervision as the Eskimo was pretty sure the paint needed to be spread to every surface within arms' reach. Great opportunity for him to practice impulse control and for Mommy to practice deep breathing. ;)

No-Cook Overnight Oatmeal

I've been on the hunt for new breakfast ideas recently. I'm getting a little tired of our usual rotation. We tend to eat a lot of eggs, some waffles, french toast, and whatever else I can dig up. But I find it really difficult to be creative in the mornings before I've had my coffee. And I can never seem to get a cup of coffee until the Eskimo has eaten. So I'm caught in this horrible breakfast catch 22. Or I was, until I found a recipe for Overnight, No-Cook Refrigerator Oatmeal on Pinterest. Bless you Pinterest, bless you.

So far I've made the blueberry maple one and the apple cinnamon recipe. Both were delicious. Though I felt like there was way too much cinnamon in the second. Gave the Eskimo a little rash on his face where he smeared it and the taste was overpowering. I also used frozen blueberries as that was all we had and it turned out just fine.

Anyway, just a quick post to share a delicious breakfast idea that you can make the night before! Brilliant!

More Discovery Bottles

I've been experimenting with some more discovery bottle options. Some of my inspiration was obtained here and some of it came from the materials I have around the house. While digging through my craft supply cabinet I discovered I had a lot of baby oil. I think some of us was given to us at the Eskimo's baby shower over two years ago and some of it I purchased for activities. Regardless, none of it had ever been opened and I decided to do something with it. One of the bottles I made is filled with baby oil, glitter, a couple drops of food coloring, and some plastic beads. I wasn't really thinking when I put the food coloring in there. It was really late last night, and I had intended on dying the oil. However, food coloring and oil don't mix. But what ended up happening was way cooler. When you shake the bottle, not only does the glitter go all over the place, but the food coloring separates into tiny little droplets in the bottle. And because the oil is thick, the glitter takes a nice long time to settle. I love it. :) FYI, the glitter is silver, so all the green you see in there is the food coloring. I also have lucked out because my sister in law uses these tiny water bottles and has agreed to give them to me when they're empty. We use reusable water bottles in our house, so I would have had to go out and spend extra money otherwise. Score!

The second one I made was inspired by the link above. I actually got the Eskimo to help me with this one. We got out the pipe cleaners, I cut them up, and he put them in the bottle. He loves being a helper, so this was right up his alley. Also good for his fine motor skills, even if he did manage to get some of the dog and cat hair in the bottle with the pipe cleaners. :) Then, we went over to Teacher Heaven and bought a magnet wand for $2.09. Check it out:

Neat, right? This was, of course, completely fascinating. He experimented with sliding the magnet up and down, and pulling it away suddenly to watch the pieces fall. He also experimented with using the front of the magnet, the side of the magnet, and the end of the magnet. I think he got the most out of this one because he was involved from the beginning. He even helped me drink the water yesterday. :)

Before you ask, yes, I hot glued the lids on. I'm hoping to keep these discovery bottles (and these and these) around for a while. I'm slowly adding to our collection with an end goal of having enough to rotate them daily over a 2 or 3 week period. Hopefully that will keep the Eskimo from getting too bored with them. Now that we have a magnet wand, I hope to do many more magnetic discovery bottles. Fun!