this is my kid:
and this is her world. her boots doll. her bottle. her paci. her socks. and her necklaces. with these five things, she’s as happy as a clam.
but, on August 15th, my baby girl is turning 2 (god help me…i can’t believe she’s going to be 2!!), and that means that we are officially getting rid of one of Isabella’s staples – her beloved bottle. we’ve been pushing this off for, oh, about 11 months now… (both Emily and Josh were completely off the bottle by 13 months….)
but in a couple of weeks, i will be putting my foot down (i’ll likely have to put both down) and taking away the bottle for good.
life as she knows it will be gone.
please pray for me.
When it was time for my son to give up his bottle (he was 3+!) we told him that there were babies who needed them and because he was now a big boy he could wrap them up (we got out the wrapping paper and he “wrote” a note to the baby) and send them to the babies whose turn it was to use them.
Truth is, he wrapped them up and I hid them in case I needed to dig them out in desperation on a future sleepless night but this never happened. He would ask about them sometimes and we would make up stories about the little babies who were so enjoying his bottles. After all, he was now a big boy!
Friends of mine have enticed their kids to give up their bottle/pacifiers by telling them they are now a big kid and can pick out a congratulations present in exchange for their bottle/pacifier. Once they get that beloved dollhouse/truck/teddy they can’t really get the bottle/pacifier back. No personal experience with this one but could be worth a try!
Good luck!
I will forever have a picture in my mind of Isabella trying on those shoes at Old Navy. And, I will giggle to myself each time I picture it. She was SO FOCUSED!
She’ll be FINE! I’m not worried for you at all! And, the monkey has that Boots, too!!!! She LOVES her some Dora, daigo go!, and boots!
Will pray for you Ali!
And.. Bella has HAIR!! Gorgeous hair … 🙂
The best Robert Munsch book for thousands of moms and dads out there is – I’ll Love You Forever…cuz it’s so true… regardless of how old our kid(s) are, they are still ‘our babies’ forever 🙂 My baby is also almost 2 and I can’t imagine making him give up his bottle cuz I luv the time we spend together cuddling! My boy will NOT sit down/cuddle unless he has a bottle – so to use a line from Lori’s post – this mommy is not ready to give up the bottle just yet 🙂
Oh Ali – good luck! My baby is just a few months behind Isabella and I don’t know how I will get her off the bottle. She only has one (okay, two) at night, but I soooo love that time with her, cradling and rocking her into a deep sleep. I know *they* say to change up the routine, but what if it’s mommy that’s not ready?
Good luck!!! This is awful to admit, but I still let Matthew have 1 bottle a day just before bed. And he’s 3. He didn’t even start taking a bottle till he was about 18 months. Very screwed up, I admit.
The funny thing is, he can make his own bottle. He gets out the bottle, the liners and the milk and then pulls the chair over to the sink and pours the milk in.
He’s so outgrown it.
Mean as it sounds my folks put a dab of vinegar on my bottle when after months I refused to give it up. One sniff of the smell and I handed it back (so I’m told) and never wanted it again.
Have you told her this is coming, or are you just going to have her go cold turkey? With ours, we starting prepping her for it, and before our “scheduled” termination, she decided it was time to say “Bye-bye”. Sure, she had a few “I want my bottle” moments afterwards, but because she had decided to say “Bye-bye”, she understood why they were gone.
I had to take Haley’s bottle away (at 18 months…no one told me to try earlier!) when my husband was out of town because he would have totally caved.
I still remember her little hands clawing at the fridge and her little voice wailing, “Baaaa Baaaa”. One of the many cruelties I have inflicted on her for which her 14 year old self is now getting revenge!