Transitions

Claire's had a little cold this week. You can see she doesn't mind taking care of the snot. This was not a staged photo shoot; she just does this if she sees her "medcine" within reach. She'll also get the Vicks Baby Rub I've been putting on her a lot this week and put it on her chest.

I saw Audrey's post on Kerrigan giving up the bottle, and I thought I would post about Claire's progress on giving up her baby stuff. She was having a nighttime and morning bottle up until a couple weeks ago, and now she has neither. Sometimes when she's in bed at night, she'll say, "Meelk?" (She says it kinda funny) But she hardly ever had a bottle in bed; it's just one of her stalling tactics.

Plus, I'm very proud to say that she has slept in her own bed every night for the past week! The only catch is, her bed is on the floor beside our bed! That's right, many of you know that we have been a "co-sleeping family" or "bed-sharing" or however you want to say it. I thought it was fine while I was nursing and working, because I wanted that extra cuddle time with my baby and the extra sleep! So we kept her in our bed. And then from about 15-18 months, after she quit nursing, she was very clingy to me. So we waited. And then, I don't really have an excuse for the past few months. Basically, it wasn't a big deal. But for the past couple months, she's been getting more and more uncomfortable to sleep with, and more difficult to get to go to sleep. One night, after it took me an hour to get her to go to sleep, with her holding onto my neck and waking up every time I shifted to try to leave, I said "Enough!" And I moved her crib mattress into our room. The first night or two, I laid with her until she fell asleep, and then ever since, I've just read her two books like always, and then got up, turned down the lights, turned on her music, and kissed her good night. We had a couple rough nights where she would wake up and want to get in bed with us (and of course those fell during Jay's fishing tournament, when he had to get up super-early the next day), but for the past four or five nights, she's gone to sleep on her own. Jay is the big softie; we had to trade sides of the bed so I could sleep beside Claire. Otherwise, she'd make a peep and he would pull her up into bed. I'm probably going to move her mattress into her room in the next week or so.

As for other baby stuff, she still has her paci, but only for naptime and bedtime.

And we've tried potty-training a little bit, but it's been a no-go. I've put her in panties several times, but she just wets herself, and doesn't have much reaction to it. Everyone told me, "They feel it when they wet in their panties/undies, and they don't want to do it again." Claire just says, "Pee-pee?" like, "What's happening?" And then I try putting her on the potty, and she just smiles at me, like, "This is silly, mama." So now, I've just started saying, "Do you want to wear your panties?" if we're going to be home for a few hours, and she'll say, "No! Diaper!" Seriously, how could wearing your waste be more comfortable than some dry, cotton panties? *Sigh*