08 May 2008

one down, one to go

We are in the late stages of weaning Eleanor. She has been nursing twice a day for just a few weeks. Though she was showing signs of wanting a bonus boob around midnight two nights ago, I did not give in. Last night, when she got revved up around 11pm, I told CD she was his problem. He let her cry for a few minutes and she went back to sleep. Repeat at 2:30am. I expected to hear from her again around 4am but she slept until 7:15am. I gave her breakfast at that time and didn't nurse. She hasn't complained yet and it's now after lunch.

I am not complaining either. We've been tapering down gradually and it shows. I hope I feel the same about 5pm, as we get closer to 24 hours without nursing. Perhaps we are down to just once a day, at bedtime. That would be lovely. I am ready to be done, though I also have the requisite pangs of guilt and a little sadness that it is coming to an end and there will be no more babies to nurse when she's done. I will probably get over that entirely when I start getting a full night of sleep.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The sadness will linger, but you'll be on to the next thing with them. It goes that way until they leave for college. Do treasure each day. It goes quickly and there are many "lasts" that are unnoticed at the time -- there's a playground I pass by these many years later and always think "There's were we went to the playground the last time."

On the brighter side, there's so much exciting stuff ahead: this week, I've had a great conversation with my daughter about her Field Botany project of identifying and labeling the trees in Mission Park (look for permanent labels in six months or so) and watched her accept the New England Rowing Championship trophy for her event while her boatmates, joined by the crowd, sang her "Happy Birthday" (her 19th). It just gets better (and all those memories of things that are long since "lasts" add to the depth).

Enjoy the journey.