Sunday, November 15, 2009

Weaning

How do you know a child should be weaned?

I took my guitar out this afternoon to practice a fingerstyle version of Silent Night I am trying to learn. Esther came up to me and said "put guitar away". I told her I was practicing. She went and got the guitar case, held it up and said very emphatically: "Mommy, put guitar away". I was impressed by her perseverance and put the guitar in its case. She then said: "take off sweater" and proceeded to unzip the sweater jacket I was wearing. With that accomplished, she happily climbed up on my lap and said expectantly: "Mommy, milk!" All preparations accomplished, she was ready to nurse.

I think a child who is this independent and resourceful is ready to be weaned.

9 comments:

Kelley said...

That's pretty well-thought out for a little one her age. :)

How are you feeling these days?

Kelley said...

We need to talk again soon; I need some Paula-wisdom.

Paula said...

Kelley,

I would love to talk. Mornings are the easiest time to catch me--do you still have my number? Email me if you need it, or send me yours and I will call.
I'm feeling...pregnant. Moderately miserable...I feel bad for complaining though because I know so many who get so much sicker than I do. I'm basically hanging on by my toenails until Dec. 17--my last day of finals for school. At least I know when that particular stress will go away, I'm really hoping the "morning sickness" (I don't understand that term...) goes away by then too!

Amber said...

I'd completely forgotten you were in school...no wonder you're miserable! Feeling so sick is bad enough without having school stress on top of everything else you have to do. I hope it goes away quickly!

How old is your little one? It seems to me like you just barely had her...I'm so surprised to hear she's speaking and thinking so well! But maybe in my mind, your family froze in time when you moved. Funny how when you haven't seen people in awhile, you expect them not to have changed :)

Paula said...

She turns 2 next month...that's even hard for me to believe sometimes, and I see her every day! Her language has really exploded in the past few months, although if I could reproduce how it really sounds it would look nearly so mature. Even I have to really work to figure out what she is saying a lot of the time, which frustrates her to death--mostly a matter of not having all the consonants figured out yet. For example, she recently added a "D" sound to her repertoire, so now "daddy" has gone from being "gu-yih" to being "gaDDy".

maryanne said...

Smart girl. Did you find this version of Silent Night online? If so, I'd love to know where...

Paula said...

maryanne,
Here is the link. I haven't made it past the first line yet (wonder why...) but it sounds nice and is easy. I really like the way it is broken down for beginners like me!
http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/silent-night/

Maile said...

That is too funny! My pediatrician always says that once a child is old enough to ask for it, they need to be weaned. I think Esther would certainly qualify for weaning under that criteria. :)

Breezy Point Mom said...

That is a hilarious word-picture. Yes, it is time for weaning, I'd say!