weaned

It happened gradually, naturally, "baby-led"... once a ferocious eater she gradually stopped asking, and I stopped offering. What once was used for her 100% nutrition led to mostly comfort and routine before nap and bedtime. Our bonding moments were being replaced, balanced out, with natural moments of affection and with the occasional full on make out session with my face, more like ON my face. lol

Yes, she is weaned. After 14.5 months it's done... It's been a month now and I would say that makes it official. And I thought this would be emotional, as most mothers say it can be... but just like with her birth- where I expected to cry once the moment came, I did not and thus was my reaction to weaning... (guess I'm a cold hard killah.) Perhaps I didn't cry because I took it on myself to give her the last little nudge (by having my mom and husband take turns putting her to sleep for just one week, that's all it took!). Thus I avoided any rejection towards me... is this why it wasn't so hard, I saw it coming, I was more in control? I don't know. And it doesn't matter.  All that matters is our time spent together, those funny and sometimes annoying milk maid memories that offered their own little lessons. The last lesson being that I was right, my mother instinct was in tune and correct in thinking that just like with our decision to stop co sleeping (at 10 months, which btw was not an easy transition!) she was giving signs, subtle cues that her routine needed to change, that she was moving on... and thus my role as a mother came into play as I helped her move on to the next step, to grow a little bit more, to bust out into the little girl she becoming.

(photo taken with my cellphone this summer at the shore after a little feeding that led to her afternoon nap, so cute how she would curl up next to me.)