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101 Revisions and Plans!

Happy New Year!

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I’ve been working on my 101 in 1001 list for 2 years now, and it wraps up September of this year! I’ve done 59 things from the list, leaving 42 to do, which seems like a lot, but I’m pretty proud of the ones I’ve done– especially getting my doula certification and finishing my novel! I figured this was a good time to look back on my list, see what I still want to do, and what is feasible, and make some changes. Anything I changed, I tried to keep the spirit of the original goal, and either make it more realistic, or just more reflective of what I currently want to do. For example, “Relearn basic Spanish” was a little too broad, so I made it more specific– “listen to Think and Learn Spanish CD and read book,” and a trip to the UK isn’t going to happen in the next 9 months, so I changed it to writing letters to the people I wanted to visit. So here’s what’s on the list!

  1. make t-shirt quilt
  2. send novel to 10 agents/publishers
  3. Camp NaNoWriMo for 2nd novel
  4. listen to Think and Learn Spanish CD and read book
  5. frame orange crate prints
  6. have carpet professionally cleaned
  7. send letters to Amelia and Sami
  8. go to Quaker meeting
  9. go to UU service
  10. Do Nancy Bardacke’s 9 week home program
  11. do yoga at least once a week
  12. turn window seat into toy chest
  13. go to Deer Park
  14. go to an IE Dharma Punx meeting or have a meditation day with friends
  15. send postcards or letters to Lindsey, Laura, and Elizabeth
  16. visit WV
  17. tech free weekend
  18. at home date- movie and dinner theme
  19. make a will
  20. donate a toy to Loma Linda chidren’s hospital
  21. hang up diplomas
  22. get ring insurance
  23. clean out office
  24. “just because” gifts for Jer (3/3)
  25. go to family yoga class with Jonas (Kids yoga video)
  26. have family photos taken
  27. drive in movie as a family
  28. 4 date nights (2/4)
  29. get a massage
  30. use the pool at least once a week during summer
  31. take Sasha to dog park
  32. go to the beach
  33. get into 3 new bands (1/3)
  34. write a love letter to Jer
  35. Read 30 books
  36. go to another hockey game
  37. play street hockey in the driveway
  38. (personal)
  39. record listening night
  40. surprise Jer with one of his favorite meals
  41. take Sasha to get stitches out
  42. Take juicer out and make healthy juices

 

Christmas 2015

Jared and I started throwing up the night of the 23rd and on Christmas Eve we were both miserable. Jonas still wasn’t feeling great and thankfully was happy to snuggle and watch Thomas the Tank Engine holiday specials all morning. My awesome father-in-law brought us Gatorade and Saltines. I ended up going to urgent care because I couldn’t keep any fluids down at all. Jonas was great the whole time and the nurses gave Jared a glove to blow up for him and printed some Santa coloring sheets.

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Sadie and Hernando still came over that evening– very brave! Thankfully, in the morning, Jared and I were both feeling much better, and could actually enjoy watching Jonas open presents. He had been asking for a candy cane and I kept telling him maybe Santa would put one in his stocking. He did!

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We didn’t get to go celebrate at Aunt Shannon’s house on Christmas and we were all disappointed. Jonas had been asking to see his cousins for a few days. It was so fun to see him get excited about opening presents, though, and he did a great job tearing the wrapping paper off himself! Santa came through and brought him his Muddle and Match: Imagine book!

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Sadie got him a vet kit and book and Mommy and Daddy got him a doctor kit and book and he loves pretending to be a doctor and do “surgery” on the puppy he named Finchy.

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Jonas liked playing with wrapping paper just as much as he liked playing with his presents, I think.

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We had been too sick to read it the night before, so Jared and Jonas did the annual reading of The Night Before Christmas on Christmas evening.

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Jared’s Aunt Lisa passed away on Christmas evening, so we were all really sad about that. It was definitely not the Christmas we had planned but I was still thankful to get to spend it with my family and to be surrounded with love.

Jonas forgot about the chocolate Santa in his stocking for a few days, but then remembered. I told him he could have it after dinner that night and as soon as dinner was over, he asked for it. They were always Aunt Sadie’s favorite and I think he liked it too!

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Happy Holidays!

We’ve been busy enjoying the holidays. Jonas really liked Hanukkah and he would ask every night if it was time to light the candles. He still asks if it is Hannukah.

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We went with the cousins to see Santa and to the Yard House for dinner. It’s the second year we’ve done it and a really fun tradition. We kept asking Jonas beforehand what he was going to ask Santa for and he said a “Muddle and Match Imagine book.” He told Santa and Santa told him, “Ok!” He kept asking, and as we were leaving he called over his shoulder, “Can I have a Muddle and Match Imagine book?!” We had forgotten to tell him that when he asked, Santa wouldn’t give him the book right away. We explained after, though, and he understands now.

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Jonas got to hang out with Santa a couple other times– at his You and Me Play School class and at the cookie exchange we did with our play group.

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Last weekend, we took a road trip to Arizona for my friend Ellie’s baby shower. We were supposed to meet at a park, but the trip took longer than expected. Jonas kept asking to go to the “far park” and luckily there was another park close to the hotel.

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A bunch of our Arizona friends got Jonas some Christmas presents and he was really excited about them! He wanted to sleep with them all, including Captain America.

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While I went to the baby shower, Jonas and Jared hung out with some of the other dads and kids. We adjusted the carrier to fit Jared in case Jonas wanted to nap in it, and I wanted some pictures of my two cute guys.

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After a whole day of playing with his friend Evelyn, and not napping, Jonas was so tired he fell asleep on her bedroom floor.

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It was a great trip, and he was such a great traveler! When he wasn’t sleeping in the car, he played with his fingers and hands and sang and talked to himself. It was so cute!

Last night we watched Elf and relaxed. We were supposed to go to a gift exchange with our play group today but Jonas was throwing up last night. He seemed happy all day though, so hopefully he is better. 3 days until Christmas and we’re pretty much ready– just need to do some cooking and cleaning!!

Fall!

We’ve been doing so many fun things!

 

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The park

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Parent and me class. This was their trick or treating day for the letter T. I didn’t want Jonas to get bored of his Halloween costume so we improvised and he was a super hero.

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Building “birdie nests” and “beetles nests”

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Baking

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Jonas has also been going to ice skating lessons! He’s had a couple where he cried and didn’t want to do anything but on the ones where he is in the mood (they take place when he is usually napping), he’s been getting better and better and can even skate on his own! I can’t even explain the pride I felt when I saw him let go of the chair and take off!

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Since it’s getting close to Halloween, we had some friends over to decorate pumpkins and Jonas loved the finger paint he got to use.

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And then the next day, he liked hanging out with his pumpkin friends, who he said came over. I love his imagination!

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And then yesterday, we got to go with Grandma and Papa to Adventure City in Anaheim. Jonas absolutely loved the bus ride that went up in the air and gave him butterflies in his tummy on the way down and he giggled and grinned the whole time!

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We have another busy month in November and I hope it will be just as fun!

Book Review- Positive Discipline: The First Three Years

Tiny babies, though extremely challenging in many ways, are easy in one– there is no distinction between their needs and wants, so you don’t have to decide whether or not to give them something they’re asking for. If they are hungry, it’s a need. If they are sleepy, it’s a need. If they’re crying, it’s because they NEED something, even if that need is for some love and connection. Then, when they get bigger, it gets a little more complicated. You have to tell them no sometimes. They actually NEED nos sometimes. When? That’s a little tougher.

So when Jonas first started having wants that weren’t needs and I needed to learn how to say no sometimes, I was happy that Blogging For Books sent me Positive Discipline: The First Three Years to review.

I actually finished reading it several months ago and just haven’t gotten around to reviewing it yet (I’m the parent of a toddler, remember!) but we can look on the bright side of that and see what has really stuck with me from it!

Avoid power struggles. If you are caught in a loop of “YES!” “NO!” “YES!” “NO!” with your 2 year old, stop it. Haha, this is easier said than done, but I like a lot of the tools this book provides. The most helpful for me was to “shut up and act.” Instead of sitting across the room yelling, “Get down. I said get down. You can’t be up there. You can’t climb. Get down. Did you here me?! Get DOWN!” walk across the room, say “I’m taking you down because it isn’t safe to climb on the back of the couch” and pick your toddler up and move him. It also helps you think about whether it is worth the effort at all– the book says some of the things we stress out about as parents like eating and potty training go more smoothly if we just relax a little bit.

Distraction is a legit method. I had an idea that distraction was kind of a “last ditch” method of discipline. It felt lazy– like I was avoiding actually teaching acceptable behavior and just thinking short term. This book says that at this age, distraction is ok. They’ll be able to learn more when they’re older. Sometimes distraction is exactly what is needed. Similarly:

Recognize what is age-appropriate behavior. The book explains that many of the things parents see as misbehaving at this age are really just developmentally appropriate behavior. A lot of stuff, little ones don’t even have the ability to understand is not desirable behavior, or if they do, their developmental need to explore stimuli overpowers their ability to not do it. I like the distinction this book makes between developmentally appropriate and situationally appropriate as well. A toddler might not be trying to misbehave by throwing his food but that doesn’t mean he can do it at a restaurant. The book has good advice for teaching that this kind of stuff isn’t appropriate without turning it into a punishment.

My only complaint about this book is related to this. Most of the claims about developmental appropriateness seemed evidence-backed. Some, however, like the age that children should wean and sleep independently, weren’t cited at all and seemed to just be the authors’ opinions and are actually different from real research I’ve read on the topics. The whole book is tied to RIE parenting methods, I believe, which has a lot of great theories but some silly applications. While most of the book was great, these unbacked claims just seemed like the silly parts of what I know about RIE.

Connection before correction. This is one of the most important lessons in the book. Discipline isn’t about punishment or shaming, it’s about teaching. If your kid is acting out, recognize the emotional stress they are in and address it instead of adding more to it. Don’t make it about who the kid IS (like saying “You’re being so bad! Why are you so naughty?!”), but instead about what the correct behavior should be.

Competency Experiences. Also tied to RIE, but presented in a way that seemed reasonable and made a lot of sense. The book talks about giving toddlers the chance to experience what they CAN do. Don’t be afraid of cleaning up flour. Let your kiddo help you mix the cookies. It is a good reminder to not get so caught up in just getting stuff done and to let toddlers learn how capable they are and through these experiences become more capable.

Although much of the book seemed like common sense, the book really reinforced my parenting instincts and also gave me some concrete tools to use.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jonas!

Today Jonas is 2 years old! He likes food, especially peanut butter sandwiches, books, being outside, pretending to be all kinds of things, trucks, and so many other things. His favorite phrase is “what happened?!”

We celebrated with a fun Curious George camping themed party on the 13th.

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Leading up to the party, when you asked Jonas what he wanted at his birthday party, he said “cake.” He thought all his presents were going to have cake in them. When he opened his presents, he said, “No cake in there.” Finally, it was cake time and he asked for a spoon! He even blew out his candles himself on the first try.

Today we went to the Chino Youth Museum. Jonas had a great time!

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He wasn’t sure about getting on the motorcycle at first but then he liked it.

We got Thai food and then got some sorbet!

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Happy birthday, sweetheart! I can’t believe how brilliant and kind and funny you are. Everything you do is amazing and I am so proud of you every day! I love you so much!

You Drink No More Mommy Milk Anymore

Soon after writing the post about big boy naps, Jonas didn’t ask for Mommy Milk one night at bed time. The next night he asked once but when I directed him back to the book we were reading, he forgot about it right away. He was telling me he was ready– that this was a small window in which we could wean somewhat easily. I struggled the next day, going back and forth, wondering if I should nurse him that night. Part of me wanted to have one more time, that I knew was the last time. Another part of me thought it would be too sad. When I had read blogs about other people weaning and they had a special last nursing session I always wondered how they could do that. I imagined myself sobbing.

When I was 13, my dad died. We knew it was coming soon, and I was at ballet class. My grandma came to get me, and by the time we got back to my house, he had passed away. My mom told me that he knew Sadie wanted to be there and I didn’t, so he picked a time when that could happen. Later she talked about how they asked the two of us if we wanted to be there– Sadie said yes, and I apparently said no. I have no memory of this conversation. I have so little memory of it, that I actually doubt whether I would have said a definitive no. Maybe I said it hastily, not really thinking about it. Maybe I thought, like I did about having a last nursing session and knowing it would be the last one, that it would be hard, so I said no and then blocked it from my mind. It haunts me a little bit sometimes. Did I really choose not to be there with my dad? Should I have thought about it more, if I did? How did it make him feel? I knew if I chose not to have a last nursing session with Jonas that I would regret it.

So that night at bed time, when he asked for Mommy Milk, I said ok. He giggled with delight and I fought back tears. I let him nurse as long as he wanted (which was a long time) and tried to be present with him for all of it. Sometimes, because my milk supply was down, he would say “That one not work anymore” and switch sides. I didn’t rush him and just enjoyed being with him and holding him.

I got what I needed and wanted from it. I wanted to know he was ready and he showed me. I wanted, deep down, to have a special memory of the last time we nursed. In a way, I think I needed it, to heal from the guilt of running from hard moments in the past. I got that too.

The next day, I wanted to do something to mark the transition, so we went to the mall and had a special big boy day. Jonas decided between noodles and burritos (he picked noodles) and then we went to the big boy toy store where only big kids go and get to make their own toys. Jonas made a puppy and named him Puppy. He drinks no Mommy Milk and he wears big boy underwear!

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He thought it smelled delicious.

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Adding stuffing to Puppy

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I wasn’t planning on starting to potty train Jonas any time soon and I definitely wasn’t planning on starting the same week he stopped nursing, but he woke up in the middle of the night and asked to use the potty and my friend told me she missed the window with her three year old where she was interested and it became a power struggle and I didn’t want to do that. We tried the three day method but it didn’t work with Jonas’s personality. He got annoyed with us asking him constantly if he was dry and reminding him to tell us if he had to go and he would ignore us and have accidents on purpose. Instead we just started putting him on the potty every once in a while and praising him a lot when he went and as soon as the pressure was off, he started doing better. He’s been doing great!

Now when he sees me changing or if he looks down my shirt, he will kind of giggle and say “You drink no more Mommy Milk anymore!” It’s a mix of pride, nostalgia, and disbelief and I feel the same way!

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In his first pair of underwear!

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Two guys in their underwear

West Virginia Summer 2015

We spent July 1-14 in West Virginia and it was awesome! We got to spend so much time with family and did so many cool things.

Our connecting flight was delayed and we had a long layover in Phoenix. Thankfully, they had an awesome kids area and Jonas had fun rolling around on the tumbling mats. One little girl showed him how to do some stretches and he copied everything she did. It was so cute!

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We spent the first part at Nick and Wendy’s house and Jonas had so much fun feeding the fish from the dock my cousin Rachel and I built with my dad and hanging out with his cousin Jackson.

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We celebrated Jackson’s 2nd birthday and I don’t know whether Jonas was more excited about the Curious George theme or the cake.

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Jonas loved snuggling with his Great Grandma and decided to call her Aunt Kate Grandma, a combination of the names he heard people calling her.

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We visited Audra State Park, went on a little hike, and checked out the river.

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Jonas learned a new word: “Hammock.”

The second part of the trip, we stayed at my mom’s house.

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The first night we were there, we went to a play– Harold and the Purple Crayon. They served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Jonas loved it and he got really into the play. He loved the antagonist, Mr. Smudge. After the play, the actors waited outside to meet the kids and sign autographs and Jonas was completely overwhelmed. He wanted to take a picture with Mr. Smudge but then would burst into tears. When we took him away, he would cry that he wanted to take a picture with him. He eventually settled on giving him a high five.

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My stepsister, Amelia, and her boyfriend Mathieu were in from Ireland, and my stepbrother, Alec, was in from Northern California and it was great hanging out with everyone!

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Jonas loved his Uncle Alec and hung out next to him on the floor while he played guitar. Alec took him to pick blueberries outside and after that, Jonas asked for him the rest of the night.

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Grandpa read “Frog and Toad Are Friends.”

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We went to the fountain in town and Jonas had fun splashing and climbing on rocks.

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At the Irish Pub, Jonas loved putting money in the tip jar and other people who were there would give him money to put in. The musicians let him come on stage and help them play and he was so excited!

There are a couple memories from this trip I know I will remember:

Even though the rest of the family did fireworks on July 4, Jonas and I waited because Jared really wanted to see Jonas’s reaction and he didn’t get in until the night of the 4th. We tried again on July 6th. We all went down to the pond and set up the fireworks on the dock and got s’mores ready for the firepit. I had had Jared buy vegan marshmallows for us and bring them with him. We had the chance to make one s’more and set off a couple fireworks before it started pouring down rain. It was just such a family moment, everyone rushing to gather things up, help my grandma back up to the house, and me, Jared, Jonas, and my cousin Katie, staying down to try to get in one s’more before we got soaked.

Another night, at my mom’s, Jonas and I went outside just at dusk and caught fireflies. It was light enough that I could see them to catch them more easily, and so that I could see his face but dark enough that we could see them lighting up. He got so excited when I would go to catch them. It was just completely magical to him. Remembering catching fireflies with my dad as a kid, and then seeing Jonas’s face light up while we did the same thing together, was amazing.

We missed Bubby and Grandpa as soon as we left but we are happy they will be here in a few weeks!

Big Boy Naps

As I type this, Jonas is taking his fourth big boy nap, or a nap without Mommy milk. So far (we’re only 10 minutes in), this is the least hysterical. The first day was a nightmare. He cried and cried and sounded absolutely heartbroken. He was grieving. He finally fell asleep, up in the baby carrier, as I rocked and calmly told him it was ok to cry, ok to feel sad, and named all the times I love him. “I love you when you’re sad. I love you when you’re mad. I love you when you’re scared. I love you in the morning. I love you at breakfast time. I love you at lunch time,” I said calmly as his breathing slowed down and his eyes slowly got heavy.

The second day, I was at a book club meeting and he cried a little and then laid down and went to sleep with Jared on the couch. Yesterday, he fell asleep relatively easily, then awoke 5 minutes later, ready to hang out at the barbeque we were having. A few hours later, he had a complete meltdown, crying so hard he was gagging.

Today, though a relief, is bittersweet. People say that about weaning a lot– that it is bittersweet, but I feel like that implies more of a 50/50 split than what this feels like. This feels a little more like an 80/20, or maybe a 70/30, with the sad parts winning out. I know part of that split is hormones. With every feeding I cut, I have an oxytocin withdrawal. When I night weaned I felt nauseous. This time, I am teary. Part of it is what is making this cut so hard for Jonas too– it’s the next to the last feeding, and we can both feel the end coming. I’m tearing up even writing this. It is also, more than the others, a loss. The other feedings we’ve cut were more ambigous– no more public nursing, then no more nursing while reading, etc. This is a very specific time and tied into a ritual that still exists. We still bounce, I still sing, we don’t still nurse. It feels real. We’re really doing it.

Part of it, too, is my own mixed feelings about weaning. I didn’t expect to feel this way. I knew I wanted to nurse for a year. It was a goal. In the beginning, sometimes the hormones would make me want to crawl out of my skin. And then a lazy latch made me feel that way again when shooting itches surged through my nipples. Not a pleasant feeling. But I knew I would stick with it. I had a wonderful support system and it was just something I knew I would do. I would figure out how to nurse for a year. Then he was a year old. Friends in my mom’s group were still nursing. I read about gentle weaning. It made sense and fit right in with the other parenting that has worked for our family.

But the comments started. They weren’t mean or judgmental. They weren’t from strangers or from people online. They were caring and they were from people who I love, and who are part of that same support system that helped sustain our nursing relationship up to that point. I have to be fair. Everyone has been very civil and has walked very gently around the subject with me. They know it’s very sensitive, and I truly truly appreciate that. Sometimes there were stories– a relative who nursed her baby until he was five. The slightest hint of a question in it– “That’s not going to be you, right?” Sometimes it was advice– little tips for nudging the weaning process along. Sometimes it was just a question, “How long are you planning on nursing him?” or “Is he still nursing at bed time?” and even if it wasn’t what they intended, even if it was my own self-consciousness, I felt something behind the comments– a fear that I was going to be the weird relative. That my kid would be the weird kid still nursing at preschool dropoff. And honestly, I knew I wouldn’t be. I imagined us nursing til 2, slowing down, and him choosing to stop sometime shortly after, with some gentle nudging and encouragement from me. I don’t have the same kind of fear or antagonism toward moms who choose that, but it really wasn’t the image I had for what I would do. I knew that their fears were unfounded. All of the research done on extended nursing shows that there are NO negative effects– physical, psychological, nothing, EXCEPT the social stigma, and I wasn’t receiving any negative feedback or pressure EXCEPT from the people who were concerned about it. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. By worrying about the social pressure, they became the social pressure, even though they were doing it in a loving, supportive way. So even though no one was saying anything judgmental, and even though they weren’t suggesting I do anything I wasn’t planning anyway, the comments made me cringe. When I heard them I wanted to hide Jonas and myself away, to turn our backs and stay in the little world of love we make every time we nurse.

Still, the comments have made me be a little more proactive than I probably would have been otherwise. In some ways it has been good. I’m glad I’m only nursing a couple times a day now and that he knows it is off-limits at other times. With this latest development, though, these big boy naps, I just don’t know. My first instinct, when he cried like he has a couple times was that I was hurting him. When I first mentioned weaning to Jonas, I told him, “You know, when you’re a little bit bigger, you won’t drink Mommy milk anymore.” He was quiet and looked at me for a moment, his face growing sad. “What’s wrong?” I asked him. “Baby get bigger,” he said. “No more Mommy milk.” I asked him if he wanted a hug. He nodded and melted into my arms, bursting into tears. The next day, he patted my chest and told me “Love Mommy milk.” It was his first glimpse at the idea of impermanence. Those tears on his first days of big boy naps– they were tears of recognition of that impermanence, and they carried the pain of that knowledge. The depth of them was just as deep as the pain we all feel at that knowledge. The knowledge that everything we love is here for a while, but not forever.

I know in my gut I need to keep holding him and mothering him in this way for a while longer. I know in my gut it is almost time to stop. I have never in my life felt two completely conflicting things in my gut at the same time like this. I need some kind of permission that isn’t an excuse, that isn’t from someone with skin in the game.

The closest I’ve come to permission came from a woman sitting next to me on an airplane. We talked and she, a school counselor who nursed both of her own children until they were 18 months old, told me that learning resilience is important for kids. Jonas will be resilient through the loss of Mommy milk, she assured me with the confidence of a professional and the compassion of a mother, and that resilience is a skill he will carry with him. I know she’s right, but still. There is so much in this world to build resilience. I want to be part of my baby’s team, not part of what he has to overcome. Maybe as a parent, it is my job to be both.

There are lots of tips for weaning. Even for gentle weaning, there’s lots of advice out there. But it isn’t the kind of advice I’m looking for. I don’t want more practical strategies for distraction. I want someone to tell me how to take deep belly breaths when I feel like I’m going to cry and that sometimes it is harder at night when you’re holding your baby, and this tiny lesson you’re teaching them about impermanence is reminding you that you have never really mastered that lesson gracefully.

And the guilt. The guilt is hard. Some gentle weaning sites say crying and clingyness are a sign you’re going too quickly. We’ve been cutting down extremely slowly, and still this was almost enough to make me stop. Babies also cry and get clingy as they reach developmental milestones. This definitely counts as a milestone. From a behavioral standpoint (my best friend is an Applied Behavioral Analyst and I’ve been texting her like crazy), if you stop, the process will take longer and be more difficult for everybody. Love your baby the way you do through any big change.

Mostly, I need to tell myself the same things I’ve been telling Jonas. It’s ok to be sad. It’s ok to cry. It’s ok to be scared. It’s ok to be mad. It’s ok to feel guilty. It’s ok to not know if I’m doing the right thing. As long as I love him and love him and love him, it is all ok.

Montreal

We went on our first real family VACATION (as opposed to a trip to visit family) last week to Montreal and it was awesome! Here’s some of what we did:

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We stayed at an Airbnb and there were these cool dinosaurs. Jonas had a lot of fun making them roar. I was a little worried he would destroy some things there but we got away with only a ripped book page (that thankfully the host wasn’t upset about.

On Saturday, we mostly just slept since we had been on the red eye and were coming from a different time zone. Then we went to Atwater Market, a cool outdoor market, and walked around.

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On Sunday we went to Mont Royal Park. Every Sunday there’s a thing called the Tam Tams where people play drums and juggle and do Live Action Role Playing and all kinds of other stuff. We ended up taking a really long hike through the park, thinking it would surely loop back around. After climbing, climbing, climbing for miles, we finally just asked someone and they told us it didn’t circle around, so we turned around.

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We went to a place my friend recommended called La Banquise and had vegan poutine. Yum!

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On Monday we met up with my friend Kate, who I know from an online group for moms with babies born in September 2013. It was so fun! We went to a place called Melons and Clementines that had great snacks for grownups and babies and had play space for the kiddos to run around. Jonas and her son Henry LOVED each other and kept asking each other (in English and French, respectively) for kisses and hugs. It was adorable. Kate is totally someone I would hang out with even if we didn’t have babies born 10 days apart and I’m so glad to have gotten to spend time with her.

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An ATM refused our card even though we had put a travel advisory on it so Jared had to call them. There are still pay phones all around the city, and they actually came in handy!

20150608_190848These probably won’t really exist when Jonas is old enough to remember them so we thought we’d take a picture of him with one!

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On Tuesday we went to the Biodome and saw a bunch of animals. Jonas loved it, especially the fish and the penguins. He got so excited when we saw the penguins he was giggling!

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On Wednesday we went to a creperie called Chez Suzette with Jared’s hockey blogging friend and then to the Montreal Canadiens Hall of Fame. It was cool to see all the old jersies and other artifacts. Jonas slept through the whole museum.

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On Thursday we went to the Montreal International Beer Festival. Kate met up with us again and showed us her favorite local beers to try. It was awesome! My favorite was one called Chihuahua from Brasseur de Montreal that was made with lemongrass. It was delicious. Then we tipsily walked down to the Old Port and visited the Museum of Canadian delights where we got to sample different kinds of maple syrup and maple toffe, which is made by twisting a stick of maple syrup in crushed ice. It was so yummy!

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We didn’t have plans for Friday so we went back to Atwater Market and walked around some more. We had delicious tofu buns with peanut sauce at a place called Satay Brothers for lunch and since Jonas had been asking for strawberries, we got some fresh ones. We also got maple sorbet, which is maybe the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten! Jonas didn’t feel like being in the baby carrier or on our lap, but he was happy when we let him sit in his own metro seat. He didn’t even want us to hold him. When he felt he was indpendent enough, he said, “That’s fun!” with a big grin.

For dinner we went to a vegetarian place called La Panthere Verte– The Green Tiger and had delicious sandwiches and vegan tiramisu.

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On the way back to the apartment, it was raining, and Jonas told us all to put our hoods up and then said we were a “hoodie family.”

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It was so nice– the Montreal airport had toys to keep kids entertained!

We got home late Saturday night. It was such a fun trip and so nice to have so much time to hang out as a family!