Bye bye baba! Sort of.

The other day we decided it was time to say bye bye to the baba (aka bottle). Cooper is 20 months old and we want him weaned from the bottle before he returns to daycare this spring. After reading about other moms' experiences with eliminating the bottle I decided cold turkey would be our preferred method. So while Cooper was asleep I washed all his bottles and put them in a storage bag and into the garage with all the other baby items he has outgrown. Well, I confess I did hold one bottle back - just in case. I toiled over it - do I not tempt myself by holding the one or am I being realistic about the fact that this could be a trial and error process?

The first two days and nights were downright miserable - especially nights. Cooper yelled "baba!" over and over and over again and threw major tantrums when we handed him the sippy cup with milk in it because according to him only water should be in those cups. You see, he has no problem with sippy cups - he can drink from all types: cups with straws, cups with silicone nips similar to bottles, cups with hard spouts, cups with soft spouts - we have two of just about every type available. As long as they contain water, Cooper loves the cups. As son as you put anything else in the cup - juice, milk, etc. - forget it. He's not having it. I suppose it's my fault since I didn't want him having juice (sugary, no real nutritional value) and didn't try putting milk in the sippy when the sippy was first introduced. Hindsight is 20/20. Oh well!

In the middle of this transition, our dog Hunter (9 yr old golden retriever) had a seizure in the morning when we were all getting up for the day. She started having them a year ago and we had them controlled with medication. The next morning just after midnight she had another one - a big one - and once it was over I carted her down to the 24 hour animal hospital for observation, blood work, x-rays, etc. She seems to be OK and is home after spending two nights at the hospital and numerous tests (not to mention the dent in my wallet - but she's so worth it). I mention the dog's situation here because of the additional stressor on the family right now (not to mention other stressors many of you are already aware of - namely me being in treatment).

On the third night (after getting barely any sleep thanks to hearing Cooper scream and cry for his "baba" and dealing with the dog, I couldn't take the chaos and added exhaustion and I gave in. I gave Cooper his "baba" before bed. He actually did a happy dance in the middle of his room when I said, with bottle in hand, "would you like your bottle now?" Seriously, wish I had gotten that on video because he jumped up and down, twirled around and yelled "peas!" while signing "please". It was hilarious.

We've eliminated all but one bottle per day now - the one at bed time. I'm OK with that, for now. Since Cooper isn't drinking milk during the day (refusing to have it in a cup), he's eating very well at meal time which is a nice change. He's eating full meals and 3 snacks per day when in the past he would pick at his food at meal time. Although we didn't eliminate all the bottles, I feel like we've accomplished something really great here because of the improved eating.

Like I often say - whatever works! :)