At almost fourteen months, Grace (in my eyes...I don't know about the technical definition) is hovering between babyhood and toddlerhood. I am hovering between whole-heartedly allowing her to enter this new stage and clinging to the little cuddly baby I love. She's been walking for a while now and seems to think that other kinds of independence should come along with that. Hmph.
I just don't know.
Firstly, she seems to have decided that one nap a day is plenty. Ha! What a joke! Doesn't she realize just how lucky she is? I'd sing karaoke for two naps a day! :) (saying "I'd kill for two naps a day" seems far too violent, so I decided to come up with something equally terrifying and horrible to me...) And this two nap schedule has been working so well for us. Why mix things up now? I mean, really?
And then there's the issue of the bottle. Okay, this is much more my issue than hers. I know that she should be using a sippy cup or some kind of equivalent these days. I even bought one a few months ago to encourage myself to encourage her. But...it just tends to sit unloved, unnoticed, and unused in the cupboard. I bring it out to let her drink water and the occasional sip of juice every now and again, but that's about it. No milk. No main staple of her liquid diet.
Sigh.
See, I love the bottle. :) She seems okay either way, but I love the bottle. When I stopped nursing her, I missed the closeness so much and worried that it was gone forever. But then I discovered that Grace is perfectly content to sit or lay with me while drinking her milk. It's one of the few times that she is truly cuddly. And I love it! I look forward to that time every day.
It just feels like the sippy cup would steal that away. Every day when I'm getting milk for Grace, I think about how I should let her learn to drink her milk exclusively from a cup. But...I just don't. I find some perfectly logical excuse that makes it quite necessary for me to continue with the bottle. You know, like the weather being a certain way that day that makes it impossible to effectively drink from a sippy cup. Perfectly logical. :)
So my line between babyhood and toddlerhood has been drawn. The line is illustrated with a bottle and a second nap. I wonder what Grace's line would be?
This is Grace's new favorite reading spot. Our decorative (a euphemism for "fake") fireplace. She sits down in front of it and then scoots right in. It's quite adorable.
Grace has become quite the little traveler.
This picture was taken at the Como Zoo gardens in Minnesota.
A fuller view of Grace and the fireplace.
At the bunny fountains in Ohio with her cousin, Stephen.
