Mom: Odin, would you like some "milkies?"
Odin: No.
Mom: Why not?
Odin: All gone.
Mom: So there's no milkies in there?
Odin: No milkies.
Mom: What about when the baby comes? Then will you have more milkies?
Odin: No! Odin big!
And that was that. There was a time last week when we we were nursing one of our last nursings (i didn't know would be), and I felt that hormonal rush of oxytocin, once again. It was that strong nurturing hormone you feel when your baby is at the breast. I hadn't felt that for a long time, especially as I've been pregnant. It came so suddenly, and so powerfully, that tears filled my eyes. I looked down at my big boy and just adored his little face all over again, trying to imagine what it was like when he was just a baby, nursing quietly at my breast.
That time goes by too fast, as everyone says. It really has.
One of my favorite paragraphs from the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, about a weaning toddler, is this:
"While many people see weaning as the end of something--a taking away or deprivation-it's really a positive thing, a beginning, a wider experience. It's the broadening of the child's horizons, an expansion of his universe. It's moving slowly ahead one careful step at a time. It's full of exciting but sometimes frightening new experiences. It's another step in growing up."
So run my little boy--go explore the world, and Mom will still be right there with you, just like from the very beginning.
5 comments:
That's such a sweet story Sally! How wonderful that he came to it on his own too. I am still waiting for when my three year old will wean. No time soon I don't think, and I am in no rush, but it feels like it will be sooner than later so I am definitely trying to soak it up.
So sweet! Cheers to new adventures and growing up! :)
So this is pretty much exactly how nursing ended with Zadok, right? He weaned himself just a month or two before O was born! It's a trend!
Beautiful post. Many mother-baby couples would be so much happier if they weaned as gently.
Love it Sally!!
Ashlyn keeps getting to the point where I think she is weaned and then she comes back and needs more a few days later. It's been a slow weaning process, but I agree that it's such a gentle way of doing it. No trauma. YAY for Odi-bear!!!
It's sad and sweet at the same time. Odin is growing so fast! DJ shows no sign of wanting to wean, still going strong at bed time and nap time.
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