It's Over

Chores already, Mom!?

This is really goodbye.

I am no longer a vessel for liquid nourishment. 

Clementine has stopped nursing. 

As of September 3rd, she is done. Like, officially done. No snacks before naptime, no pulling at my shirt during lunch.....nada. And it's just as bittersweet as I thought it would be. 

Since I am pretty convinced that she is my last child, that experience may be it for me. I nursed three babies til they were at least 11 months old. Clementine nursed the longest at 16 months, although I was striving for 24. It wasn't easy. She became distracted around 15 months, wanting to say hi to her nursery friends on the wall while I nursed her, sometimes sitting straight up in my lap to get a better vantage point. She'd point to the books on her shelf or strewn on the floor and maneuver her way out of my lap to grab one. She was most definitely ready and it came from her. So in that sense, I'm completely okay with how it this chapter ended.

But in another way I'm not. 

She's 17 months now, and didn't we just celebrate her birthday last week? How quickly even 5 months can fly by and now she's drinking milk from an entirely different mammal than her mama (which I'm not particularly keen on, but more on that in a later post). She now makes milk requests by pointing at the fridge and saying "Ah!" That means open the door please and take out that gallon of milk, that one right there, the one with the label that reads "organic whole milk," not the skim one, that one is for the rest of you. Thank you very much. 

She's growing, too. And she's so funny. She laughs with me at the same things and I can't seem to get over how much that fills my heart with joy. She just gets it, yunno? I can see it in her eyes and her gestures just how much she understands. She walks confidently in and out of the rooms of the house with nothing but a diaper on, throws her body on the couch, or randomly lays on the floor of the kitchen. Sometimes I look at her and wonder where did this little person come from? She is such a part of me that I think somehow in the place where we begin, I must've left a shiny little piece of me behind by accident. Then when it was her turn to come down, she picked up that shiny piece of me and carried it with her. Like a security blanket maybe, or an old loved teddy bear.

So for now, it's whole milk and toddler mischief. 

It's waving hi or goodbye to everyone we meet. Even if sometimes it's too late.

Books before bedtime, and kissing pictures of babies.

Patting her diaper when she needs a change. (I think that's a sign! Yay!)

Deciding on whether or not to grow out her bangs or cut them again because my word, they are all in her eyes and the girl does not keep clippies in for very long without them becoming a choking issue. 

I miss Baby Clementine. I do. But Big Girl Clementine is amazing. AND SHE'S SO MUCH FUN!

Just enjoying the ride, I guess.