Growing Up

Parenthood if full of milestones, thankfully for the most part you can see them coming. You can see the child start the process towards mobility , here the babbles turn into words and notice them starting to control there bladder.

So why have these milestones of Eilidh completely caught me off guard?

First i think she may be given up on naps, at 17 months this is not something i completely agree with . How many 17 month olds don’t need at least some sort of nap? To be fair i don’t think its going to reach the point where she does not nap at all for a while , she does need one and will pass out at some point during the non nap day and sleep just long enough to not be a complete bear when she wakes.

Today she napped for maybe 15 minutes in the car coming home from shopping and that was it, im wondering if its just a reacting to my “loosing” up the schedule though and not having the same nap time ever day. For the most part she sleeps wonderfully at night on these no nap / small nap days – for about 14 hours straight . Part of me thinks her sleep problems have been just to much sleep. According to one web page i checked 18 month old needs around 13 hours plus one or two naps of 1 -2 hours each so getting around 14 hours could be enough sleep.

Either way i will keep you all updated.

The other upsetting and (for me) heartbreaking milestone is the end to our breastfeeding relationship , i am aware its common for children to wean during pregnancy. I also know it was never an issue with Rebecca, she fed happily from beginning to end. I also know Eilidh is a different child, from the moment solids were introduced she has much preferred them over milk and for aslong as i can remember its been a going to sleep/during the night thing. I just hoped she enjoyed them enough to keep it up through pregnancy (and my very low milk supply).

Over the last few weeks her feedings have reduced in time, from 5-10 minutes to 2 , and in the last few days till nothing. She fed for around a minute yesterday before she went for a nap but that was the last time she fed, any other time i have offered she refused. Like with the naptime its not a clear cut thing and it may be up and down for a while but i really think that this is it.

Im finding it rather difficult, weaning Rebecca had just about broke my heart and i miss it like crazy but i still think we done the right thing. Im NOT ready to stop with Eilidh, i assumed we had another year left if not more. If she weans and is happy then i know i should also be happy but i can’t bring myself to even smile about it. I am going to keep offering and hope she takes me up on it, i will also try again when the baby is born.

Today i guess you could also say Eilidh reached another “milestone” , she went for her first outing sans nappy. A 30 minute car ride, 1 hour at least grocery shopping then a 30 minute car trip home – all without a nappy. Aren’t i proud

If you can’t guess this was not meant to happen, she had a nappy on not long before we left the house. The first time i noticed something was a miss was just before we left the shops and she had a puddle around her – her bum was wet but i just assumed she had sat in something wet. Once home i noticed just how soaked she was , it looked like she had wet herself but i figured it impossible (he he) . I went to finish what i was doing before getting her changed only to see her squat and pee through her outfit. I checked and of course there was a bare bum under the clothes.

What happened? She had on a dungaree type outfit. You can see Rebecca wearing it last year to get the idea

Eilidh along with sucking her thumb has an obsession with playing with her belly button so you find her with her hands inside her clothes alot. She also loves taken her nappy of so i imagine at some point she undone her nappy and slipped it off. I do remember on the way out the house picking up a wet nappy and wondering where it came from.

I can just say *THANK GOD* for no pooping incidents.