First of all, thank you all for your advice on the bottle thing. I brought the bottle back out yesterday and since then, Moana has been sucking down milk like a little calf and is as happy as can be with her bulging belly. Really, she's just more cooperative all around when she's fat and happy on her milk. She whines less, she doesn't try to rip her bib off when eating solid foods, she naps better... all of it.
I guess I just assumed that at a year you wean your kid off the bottle and that's that... I think I read it somewhere in a book that a year is the time to quit the bottle. And since I don't really know all there is to know about this parenting thing, I just figured I'd go by the book. But overwhelmingly I heard from many of you that that's not how it always works. I guess we can't always parent by the book, huh? ;) I really appreciate hearing about all of your experiences.
However, if Moana takes her bottle off to college with her, I'm blaming all of you.
Speaking of fat and happy, I think I would have been happier swimming today if I had more fat. Don't get me wrong- I'm working on it and have probably added four pounds of the stuff since Ironman, but it's not really enough these days to keep me warm in the ocean. I won't even venture a guess at the temperature today, because I know you'd all scoff at me anyway, but I'm not making this up when I say that I get really cold swimming out there. My hands and arms go numb, and my training partners told me at the end today that my lips were blue. We finished about 90 minutes out there this morning and I immediately ran down the beach to get out of the shade and into the sun, where I stood shivering with my blue lips until Nalani threw her sweatshirt at me. I was actually quite happy to start running afterward because I knew then I would finally warm up. Sure enough, with just a few minutes of running I could feel the blood entering back into my hands... and then the sweat came. Ahhh. I was so happy to be hot.
Other than the cold, we had a decent swim today. It was good training anyway since it was about as choppy as it gets out there. It's been rainy and kinda stormy all week so the water wasn't really clear at all. We did a good portion of the Double RoughWater course today- got to within about 1000M of the turn-around buoys (channel marker buoys that are always there) so I'm guessing it was in the neighborhood of 5000M today. And since none of it was what you could call pleasant, it felt like real training. You know, sometimes we go out there and the sky is all blue and the bright sun makes everything feel warm and fuzzy and the winds are down so it's flat and calm and we stop a lot and just chit chat about how much we love living here. Today there was none of that. It was like, battle through the swells and chop (um, washing machine, anyone?) without being able to see the bottom and stop every 10-20 minutes to regroup but then get going again so we didn't turn into icicles.
The good news is that the race will not be harder than what we did today. It might be just as hard, but it will not be harder.
13 comments:
Yay for a happy kid. :o)
Welcome to my world of open water swimming; cold, choppy and you can't see a damn thing. And by the way, what defines cold? I was wearing down today!
Glad to hear Moana is "fat and happy" again. I too used to follow the books. I think I finally tossed them out at about a year when I realized mother's intuition really exists and was working for me. Also, every kid is different and you just have to roll with it sometimes.
My hands go numb too, especially my thumbs. I always have to quit the ocean in Oct. because it starts to get sketchy getting back to shore when I can't feel my hands. Maybe I need more milk!
Whenever you got rid of that bottle it will be tough--but I think you're right in that the time is not quite yet. She needs the comfort of the sucking, I think. Better to have healthy, fat, baby for now!
looking forward to hearing about your journey !!! just followed you...
Swimming blue is cold!!!!! Your swim training sounds awesome though!
oooh all your swimming sounds so fun. But I know cold /rough water can make some days a lot less fun. did you get on your bike yet? I was on mine today for the first time.
Good idea to relax on the bottle for a bit. We have 3 kids and had 3 different scenerios with the switch from nursing/bottle to cup. It's tricky. But somehow it all works out. and like the others said, don't force it. The baby pretty much always wins. :)Maybe in a few months (or perhaps more) she just move rigth to a regular cup. (just remembered we used to take the stoppers out of the sippy cuts b/c it made the flow so much faster. but it's also a big fat mess when they chuck it across the room because they Still just want the bottle back:o)
I wear two caps :)
And you all mocked me for wearing my Blue 70 woobie! :)
Maybe you need a shortie wetsuit? Yay for Moana, glad she is fat and happy again, lol.
I am glad to hear that both you and Moana are doing well with continuing the bottle. So far, Elena is going on a full 5 days without a bottle so I think we are in the clear. She had no issues at all getting rid of it, but she has a paccie for comfort which I predict will impossible for her to give up.
I was really worried when you posted about quiting the bottle! We already have a hard enough time getting our little guy to eat...throw out the bottle and he might not eat at all! Weirdly, he loves to drink out of "big people" glasses....just not milk, like Moana!
Are wetsuits just not an option in Hawaii?
Glad you've come to peace with Moana and the bottle. Honestly I stopped trying to force it on Zach and then somehow it just happened and I didn't even realize it did. Like breaking him of his pacifier. We've been gradually trying to keep him from them during the day but haven't risked taking them away at night. Then last night I forgot to put it in his crib and after he went down I realized "Oh crap. I forgot his pacifier." But he was already sound asleep.
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