Warning: This is a PG-13 post in which actual anatomical parts are named.
Originally, I was going to have my boobs in the title of this post. The last time I wrote about them, I was comparing them to Angelina Jolie’s, and the comments the post generated made me chuckle. But I haven’t had a Jade update in a while, so weaning will only be a part of today’s entry.
Yes, I am actually weaning Jade now. Even though she’s two and really doesn’t need breastmilk anymore, and even though I want to stop, I still feel conflicted about it because Jade doesn’t want to stop.
I think it’s been about five days — I can’t even remember when the last time was because I wasn’t thinking, “This is it. No more after this.” I was originally just trying to cut out the pre-bedtime session, but after several mornings of Jade getting up late and having a bottle as we were on the way to the daycare, it just kind of turned into full-on cessation.
Yesterday morning Jade woke up crying around 6:30 and for the first time in days actually asked for “booby”. When I said no, she started sobbing in a heart-wrenching way. Not her usual two-year-old I’m-so-upset-because-I’m-not-getting-my-way wail, but a real my-heart-is-breaking sob that completely tore me up. It’s exactly the way I cry when I’m really devastated. Michael got up and made her a bottle, which calmed her down — whew. She loves her bottle. We can go through 4L of whole milk in less than a week, as she’ll request her bottle several times a day when she’s at home.
Interestingly, on the days when she’s at daycare, she happily goes through the day without a bottle. She also doesn’t use a soother to go to sleep there, although she doesn’t always nap as well as she does at home. As soon as she sees me or Michael at the door to pick her up, though, she runs straight for her lunch box to grab her bottle. She also eats way more at daycare than at home. It’s like she’s a different kid when she’s with other kids.
Besides the trauma of weaning (yes, I’m exaggerating) Jade keeps growing and getting cuter. (Of course I’m not biased, don’t be silly.) Her favourite word these days is “Whassat?” “Whassat?” at the butterfly decorations hanging from the ceiling at the library. “Whassat?” at her eyebrows. “Whassat?” at the Zans and the Wump in the Dr. Suess book. “Whassat?” at the lady in front of us in line at the grocery store.
Besides “Whassat?” Jade loves to point out body parts on herself, on us, and on all her toys. She’s particularly fond of pointing out bums, for whatever reason, and getting us to diaper all her toys. I just pretend to diaper her dolls, but Michael actually made a tissue diaper for her blue cat on Friday.
We’ve also finally come to the point where we had to make a decision about what to call girl-parts at our house. I’m all for using the real words, but which one to use? (I know, what a hypocrite, since I say boobs instead of breasts, but all the girl-part words just seem so ridiculous and much more obfuscating than “boobs”.) The issue got complicated for me some months ago when someone pointed out that while “penis” is pretty straightforward, girls don’t pee out of their vaginas. But “urethra” is a bit of a mouthful and isn’t exactly all-encompassing either.
We settled on vulva, which is more inclusive and is easier to say, but I must admit it’s so clinical that it somehow seems like a dirtier word than vagina. I’m trying to get over it, though, because it really shouldn’t be a dirty word. I must remember to go and re-read The Vagina Monologues. That should shore me up. Anyway… Mommies of girls, if you have any suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them.
Let’s see, I think we’re done with the body parts. Oh, wait. There’s the latest report on Jade’s teeth, which isn’t nearly so interesting now that they’re almost all in. For some reason, the two canines on her left side are being very slow; it seems they’ve been coming in for months. But the points finally are out on both of them, anyway. The top one is so sharp, it’s like a little fang. Now she just has her last set of molars to come in and she’ll have all her baby teeth.
Since we’re still on the topic of body parts, let’s talk about Jade’s hands for a moment. She is suddenly so much more dextrous than she was just a few weeks ago; I literally felt an overnight change one day. She found her lunch box and managed to zip it shut and then open it again by herself. She took the wooden train tracks out of their container and started piecing them together herself. She builds tall structures with her Mega Bloks. Yesterday, she and Michael were making a watercolour paining together. Suddenly, she’s so much older.
I suppose the next milestone we have to address is potty training. Michael’s been keen to start for a few months, but I’d rather wait for nice weather outside when it’ll be easier to let Jade run around making puddles in the grass rather than on the kitchen floor. But she gets a lot more milk out of a bottle than she ever did out of me, and we’re noticing it on the output end of the things. We still haven’t fully learned to limit her in the evenings so that she doesn’t end up waking up soaked through in the morning. Who said potty training is all about the kid?
