Bottle weaning a Toddler- Day 2

Megha went for her nap without any fuss at about 12 in the afternoon. She was fast asleep by the time i went in to check on her at 12:15. She had 2 sips of water from her sippy which she returned to me when I tucked her in.

Same thing in the night too. When she woke up at around 11:30, she was fussing a lot. Not crying per se and not asking for water/milk but in general fussing. It continued all night. Luckily she was not fully awake while fussing. So she was still restlessly-resting while I tried to comfort her as best as I can. Sometimes I did ignore her and turned around to sleep (as i was so exhausted) but she seemed more at comfort when I gently say shhhhhh.
When I offered water (and milk at around 3 AM) in her sippy, she didnt want it. At around 4 AM, she settled down and slept until 8:30 AM.
Maybe her tummy hurt? Not sure. Or maybe she just wanted water in her old feeding bottle but she didnt ask for a bottle like the first night. So cannot be sure.

She did wake up fresh at 8:30 AM though. 

Bottle weaning a toddler of 27 months old- Day 1

Megha is used to drinking water, juice and milk from an open or a sippy cup since around 12-14 months. However, before going to bed or while going to sleep, she needs a bottle in her mouth as a soother to go to sleep. The reason is, since day 1 of her life, she is used to that way. It was my mistake that I let her go to sleep with breast/bottle and she continued that way.

That means, when she wakes up from her sleep, she needs a bottle to go back to sleep during nights. That said, when we weaned off Megha from milk when she turned 1, she used to drink water. It changed back to milk in our last trip to Mexico in oct 2013.

I felt it's about time when she is weaned off the bottle completely. Took Anands approval!

This afternoon for the very first time, I had given Megha water in a sippy in her bed. She had about 2 sips, gave the sippy to me, turned around and went to sleep! Incredible! Not a single tear! (Don't want to jinx it...so not going to say this again).

This evening, she had dal rice with egg at 6 PM. At about 7:15, she had Kanji. At about 8:15, I gave her 120 ml milk in a sippy. She finished most of it. Took her to bed at 8:45. Gave her water in a sippy. She had a few sips and returned the sippy to me.
She wanted me to sing her bed time song a few more times than usual and then, I tucked her good night and left her room. No tears!!! Oops. Not saying it again.

I have removed all the bottles from her sight now.

Have to mention, I had taken her to bed approximately 45 mins later than her normal timings; both in the afternoon as well as in the night.

Not sure how the night is going to pass as I am sure she will want milk during night. Planning on comforting her until about 3 or 4 am and then offer milk in sippy.

Update for Night: Megha woke up at 12 midnight asking for milk. I explained that tummies need to sleep during the night and that she can have milk later but for now she can have water in the sippy. She cried for maybe about 2 mins and went back to sleep.

She woke up again for milk at 1:30. I explained the same thing again and this time she cried a lot. Maybe about 8 mins. She drifted off to sleep later but kept waking up on and off until 3:30 AM. Then I did give her milk in a sippy which she didn't want. She drifted off to sleep and woke up at 5:30. I offered water and this time she didn't cry. She woke up again at 7:30 AM for the day.

For the first night, she had done remarkably well! I didn't sleep much but that's totally fine. I am so glad and proud that Megha did so well for the first night.

Like yesterday, this afternoon and tonight going to bed was a breeze. Have to see how the night goes.

Love you Megha! You did so very well the first day. Soooo proud of you big girl.

Montego Bay!!

Here we come...cant wait! 

Ripley's Aquarium- Feb 2014

Megha absolutely loves fish, all kinds of them. Not for eating , if you are wondering, just to look at them. By now she identifies and says the names of the below fish, when she sees one. Well, more like sea animals, not all of them are fish.

Star fish, Clown fish, Shark, Whale, Dolphin, Sea horses, Turtle, Octopus, Jelly Fish, Stingray and Crab (these come to me on top of my head); I maybe missing something.

So, it is but natural that Anand and I decided to take her Ripley’s Aquarium (a new one in town), soon after it opened.

Our day began at around 10 AM. It was going to take us about 45 mins to reach and I was really hoping that she would sleep during the ride. But she only went to sleep 5 minutes before we were to reach our destination! We didn’t go all the way to the aquarium though. We got down in Kipling so that we can ride on TTC. It would be Megha’s first train ride in Canada and we really wanted her to enjoy.

And she did! Here she is with her dad. Only downside is, she was up after 5 mins of nap.

Here is us posing by the CN Tower; yes the aquarium is a few steps away from the CN Tower.

To say that the aquarium was crowded would be an understatement. Not sure if it’s because of relatively good weather in a long time or because it was a Saturday or a combination of both but the place was packed! By then Megha realized we are a place where she is going to have so much fun. She was all excited at the first sight of the fish (I think I was equally excited). Here is Megha admiring the fish at the first stop.

We stopped by at the floor to ceiling fish tank admiring so many kinds of fish. Actually most of the fish tanks were floor to ceiling there.

Here is Pen Fish; don’t they look just like the writing pens in olden days?

Giant crabs caught Megha’s attention next…

We also had a good look at the rainbow window…lots of corals, multi-colored fish (I don’t know their names) and other deep sea living animals.

Here, finally we got to take a family picture!

Starfish window was one of Megha’s favorite spots. She just kept looking at them for the longest time.

Here, we enter the shark world! The most popular was the Saw Shark. I loved looking at it; it almost looks like human if you take just the face.

Here is another one…don’t know the name of this shark.

After that, we got to see baby fish and megha touched one.

We were also done the aquarium when we realized I had lost Anand’s jacket which he had folded along with the bag I was carrying. After playing some blame-game as to whose fault it is (ah, the hues of a relationship can never be dull), we found it hanging in one of the door handles. It wouldn’t have been this stressful to lose a jacket but we had the car keys in it. So…

By then I had lost the entire mood to continue with fish adventure (losing car keys is stressful). We quickly wrapped up the clownfish tank, seahorses and headed back to Kipling. By the time we reached home, it was way past Megha’s nap time but she napped anyway for a little while.

Over-all a good day! Megha enjoyed it a lot and so did we.  Here is Jelly fish.

one more

Art by toddler: 03/09/2014

Yesterday Megha and I went to the basement and played a lot, like every other weekend. We also did some art work. Last weekend was when we started this but yesterday we finished it. Hope you all enjoy looking at it! We sure had fun making it.

Megha initially dipped her fingers in the (child friendly) water colors but then decided she wants to draw not with her finger but with her whole palm :)

Here she is making her art...I did not help her at all other than opening and closing the water-color boxes.

The almost-complete painting...She knew exactly which colors to use. Like, when I ask her if she would like to use green color, she would say no. Blue? Yes blue! She is the owner of the painting :) So on and so forth.

Here is the final product.

What I did was, took a plain white A4 size paper. Then I wrote (actually stuck) Megha's name with the help of cello-tape. Then I gave the paper to Megha to paint. After the paint dried, I carefully removed the stuck cello-tape from the paper. How is it? Anand LOVED it and says he wants to make a frame for it :) Megha enjoyed paining and I enjoyed looking at her paint :)

We took a Loooooog bath after this painting session :)

Wa-Wa Daiyee?

Megha made us so proud today and I absolutely must log this date down before I forget all about it. Anand was coughing a bit; Megha said, "wa wa Dayiee?" First time asking us this, apart from her usual "you ok daiyee" or "you OK momma"

She sure is growing up fast and making me so proud in the process. 

Yes...No...

I heard several times in the past parents say that they don't say No to their children. If you had asked me if I say No to Megha a few weeks ago, I would have said, "No, I dont say No to her". But the fact we all forget is, we DO say No to our children more often than we really should. Of course when it comes to things that really matter, we dont say No. Like, if they want to go to the park, we take them. If they want to be a doctor, we help them in the fees. But I realized over the past few days, while its certainly good not to say No to them for things that matter, we shouldn't say No to the thing that they don't matter either (as long as they are not asking anything unreasonable).

I come with proof! This evening, Megha and I went to the local library. Its just a block away and the weather was in +, after a LONG time. So, we went there by foot. On our way, we explored the snow, we saw birds (yes, spring is on the way!) and we had a lot of fun at the library.

On our way back, Megha wanted to jump in the small puddles of water on the side walk. 2 weeks ago, I would have simply picked her and told her, we will go home and play. But, now that I am on a mission to see her world through her eyes, I just let her jump in the wa wa (like she calls water)! She was a little hesitant and was observing what I would say in the beginning. When I told her, "its OK darling, you can jump in the wa wa if you want, like the forggie from your book", she really started jumping, laughing and having a great time in general. And then I joined her and her joy knew no bounds! It made her feel that she was not wrong in wanting to jump :) Why did it take me 2 years to realize that its OK to just let her be a child that she really is and not worry about her cloths getting dirty etc? Are all parents making this conscious effort or is it coming naturally to them? I wonder....here she is jumping in wa wa

I had 2 ways of dealing with this. Either pick her up and not let her jump which will mean that her boots, jacket, snow pants need not be washed or just let her jump (and deal with washing later)! And I let her jump...what a difference it makes when we dont let the power struggle creep up? I see it first hand. We both are more at peace with each other than before.
It doesn't mean I dont say no to things that she should not do, like running around while having her dinner. Its just a conscious effort of not saying No just because I can for small things which can be easily accommodated.

We picked up some flowers from Walmart this morning (Megha loves Walmart trips), spring is in the air! These tulips now found a place on my kitchen table.

What you think and whom you really are...

I always thought (or aim) of myself as someone who would let my child be and let her do what she likes (within the safety guidelines). I really did until I was told I don’t let her be. Of course it comes as a realization and of course I would like to introspect and see what should be changed so that Megha can still have a childhood she would treasure, grow up healthy, realize her true potential and not be tied back by what is expected out of her (rather what she expects out of herself).

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to home-school Megha. Of course, it will never work out with me as I don’t see myself fit to home-school her. But the nagging thought remains, what would it be like to have more time with her. Last Sunday, she wanted to go to the basement in the morning and in the evening. Read more about what we do at the basement Here. I took her there as much as she wanted. She explored the whole basement, discovered that the washing machine makes noise but there is nothing to be worried about; discovered that I store some toys in some storage boxes (lol); discovered that light switches on when she pulls a thread and that there can be several ways of switching a light on and off.

I am starting to truly realize for the very first time that learning doesn’t always happen in a class room or when we teach a child. It happens in the most common places you can find around and in the most unusual of ways.

We all know about the above but we dont really give much thought to it until certain realization dawns and I am starting to see some light now. 

I am reminded of an incident a few weeks ago where we (Anand and I) had left Megha alone for a few minutes (may be 2 mins) while we were occupied doing something (paperwork I think). In the meantime, she had opened a big Vaseline jelly box and happily dipped her tiny hands, pulled the jelly out and was in general having a time of her life with the jelly. When I noticed it, of course I got frustrated in the beginning but when Anand pointed it out that its ok, I soon started laughing. We washed her hands and cleaned her up right away. But now I am doing some introspection and I realize I couldn’t have been more wrong in washing her off. I really hope that she didnt get me wrong and I hope she didnt feel that I am controlling her or that I am belittling her.

Perhaps I should have joined her in her fun? I know sh takes immense pleasure when I join her in something she does. I really should have made her day by being naughty and dip my fingers in Vaseline. Maybe she would have felt its OK to experiment and know about different textures and how they feel in her hands. So, I made a decision today. I am going to make some kid-friendly goo (don’t ask me how, I don’t know yet) and let her play with the goo to her hearts content.

I want her childhood to be child-centric not be bound by my adult-expectations. Anand seems to be doing so much better than me. 

I have also decided that Megha and I will be gardening (just a little) this summer. Initially I thought I wouldn’t be doing any gardening (lazy I guess) this year but I now I change my mind. I want her to explore the earth, feel the mud, water, get dirty in general and experience the joy of gardening. I don’t know if at this age she really understands what “gardening” is but as long as she is outdoors playing with mud/plants and water, I don’t see any downside to doing it.

I am going to change my parenting style and look her world through her eyes, at least try to. She is not going to remain this young forever and soon before I know I will lose her to her friends. I want to make the best of her childhood while she still enjoys my company as much as I enjoy hers. Lets see how that goes. I know I am going to stumble a million times but if I dont start looking the world through her eyes, I will never know how beautiful her world is. Better late than never....

Comforting words...

This morning, Megha and I headed out to go to the daycare. We had some trouble at the daycare as the daycare provider had accidentally slept through alarm (alarm didn't go off) and didn't open the door for us. I waited outside for a bit along with Megha and came back to the car. Here is the below conversation:

Me: I am sorry magpie, we had to wait in the cold.
Megha: don't worry momma.
Me: thanks darling. (Made me soooo very proud!)

Later Anand had come to pick her up so I can get to work on time.

I am so happy and so proud that she started using sentences in the right context these past few days!
This evening she wanted to play ball. She asked her dad specifically, "sit daddy"... So that she can pass the ball to him :)