The Cow Goes Moo

Holy crap.  It's the middle of January already?  Where the hell have I been???

Busy, that's where.

Between Halloween and Thanksgiving, I had pneumonia.  WTF.  I *never* get sick, ever, but I managed to come down with pneumonia and it knocked me on my ass for six weeks.

Then, we had the blur of my niece's birthday, Christmas parties, my dad's birthday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, all culminating in Babydoll's 1st Birthday three days after Christmas.

Tears.  I still can't believe my teeny tiny baby is already an entire year old.  She survived.  We survived.

Whew.

With the first birthday came the transition to cow's milk.  After her 12 month well check, her kick-ass pediatrician gave us the go-ahead to start giving her cow's milk.  Some of the sweetest words I've ever heard: "Don't buy any more formula."  You got it, doc!  I will be extremely happy to stop spending $150 a month on formula.

We already knew the kid would be getting organic whole milk.  We (read: I) started reading and talking to other parents about the best way to transition from bottle to sippy cup.  We (read: I) bought a few different kinds of sippy cups, because everyone said you had to have one special cup that was just for milk.  You had to make a big deal about that one special cup, so the kid would know that milk-time was super-duper special.

Babydoll, in essence, said "Screw this special cup" by way of flinging it across the room.  She's got an amazing arm, by the way.  Also, "no-leak" is false advertising.  Either that, or my child has got mad skills.

It comes down to this: she doesn't need a special cup, or a big to-do, in order to start drinking milk and stop the bottle.  When we started the transition, she was getting three 5 oz bottles and one 8 oz bottle of formula every day, in addition to solid foods and her sippy of water.  We cut out one bottle altogether, right from the get-go.  No issues.  We started mixing 3/4 formula to 1/4 milk for a few days, then went to half-and-half.  No issues.  We cut out another bottle and started giving her a sippy of milk to enjoy after breakfast and throughout the day.  No issues.  She seems to really like the milk in her cup.  But when nap time and bedtime hit, then we've got issues.

We've both relied on the bottle to help Little Miss Crankypants chill out when it's time to go to sleep.  Through the course of a week, we've managed to *mostly* get away from the nap time bottles.  Bedtime is still a challenge.  We're working on it.  I know she doesn't have to be completely off the bottle, like, immediately, but it would be nice to be able to put all the bottles, collars and nipples away for good.

But hey, the kid hasn't had a pacifier in almost a month now.  YES.  We won't have the six-year-old still sucking on a binky at the grocery store.  YES!