And now for another installment of Levi says! Levi has really picked up on his mimicking and spoken vocabulary these last few weeks.  He will repeat words with decent accuracy if you ask him to say them and everyday he says many new words of his own initiative. Whether or not I understand them is another story, but I'm getting pretty good at guessing his meaning. He also loves to mimic sounds of everyday things, like cars, machines, the wind, the sound of sipping a drink or splashing water. He definitely gets that from Eric because I suck at imitating things.

Here are some recent favorites:
MAWNA = lawn mower
WINMA = windmill
SEPIE = spaghetti
DIMA = dinosaur
ITSY = spider
KAP = park
CUT GASS = cut grass re: the lawn mower
TAKTUH SEEPING= tractor sleeping
huuuHHHH? = Home Improvement style surprise
PIPEH! PIPEH!!! = calling Piper if some food drops on the floor
SCHOUND? = sound? (with his hand up to his ear) he does this when we are outside and he hears something interesting
SAHEE = sorry (if he bites or hits or kicks and then he feels bad after I scold him or put him in timeout)

And there are lots more, it's just hard to remember all of them! Man... I really need to catch some of this on video. It's really hard to type out toddler inflections... :)

It's taken me awhile to write this story, but this morning, Levi woke up and climbed into bed with us to snuggle and he asked for milk. He wanted to nurse. It made me sad and I said so to Eric. He's been weaned for 2 months and he still remembers the mama milk and asks in the morning sometimes. I told Levi I didn't have anymore milk, but we could go get some in the kitchen, and he was satisfied with that. Eric and Levi went to eat breakfast while I snoozed for another half hour.

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March 14th was the last day that Levi nursed. He was a little over 19 months old. I didn't know it was going to be the last day and I think that is why I'm still a bit sad about it. We had been working towards weaning him by our anniversary, mid-April, because he was going to stay with Nana & Da while we went on a road trip. I didn't want to burden them with the task of putting him to bed without nursing for the first time. So we made a simple switch in the bedtime routine, the only time of the day that Levi was still breastfeeding. Instead of bath, jammies, reading books with Dada, nursing with Mama, then bed, we switched the order of Mama & Dada-time so that he nursed and then read with Eric. I figured after a couple weeks of this, we could cut the nursing and see how he did. Eric put him to bed alone the first couple nights and it was a bit rough. For about two nights, I had to go back in and settle him with a cuddle after 15 minutes of crying before he would fall asleep. But then he was fine. After about a week of this new routine, on March 15th, I settled in to nurse Levi. He looked at me, poked my boob, looked back at Eric and said "book." I offered again and he pointed to Eric and said "book" again. Okey dokey... and that was that. He did ask and cry for mama milk sporadically a couple times after that, but it was relatively easy to distract him away, explaining that Mama doesn't have milk anymore.

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In the beginning when Levi was born, breastfeeding was such an immense struggle for Levi and me. Levi was eating at least every 2 hours and it took him 45 minutes to an hour to eat. That's only one hour to do anything in between feeding and there were diapers to change and sleeping to be done and bathroom breaks and mama had to eat sometimes! It was HARD. Then there was the fact that we were moving into a new house with a 2 week old. Oh and cluster feeding, threatened mastitis, yeast infections, clogged ducts, cracked & raw nipples, excess lipase... There were so many nights that I would get that can of formula they gave us as a sample and threaten to crack it open to have Eric give him just one bottle because I just needed a break. A break from the extreme pain and the worry that he wasn't getting enough and the pressure of being his sole source of nutrition. But I never did. I always gritted my teeth for the toe-curling pain and provided my baby with what he needed most.

After about 3 months, it finally got easier. I healed and Levi got stronger and quicker with his feedings. It finally made sense why I should be doing this as Levi thrived and was a smiley, happy baby. My body finally caught on. Our initial goal was to make it to 3 months and then reassess. Then it was to make it to a year, which was easily done. After a year, we just kept going. Levi was still a baby, even though he could walk, explore, had a whole set of teeth, and eat solid foods. He still needed his Mama milk. Then I got pregnant again. This didn't change too much, but nursing did get a little painful at times. However, all good things come to an end and I'm glad that the end of our breastfeeding journey was as gradual and peaceful as it was. With just a gentle nudge, Levi was ready, even if he still occasionally craves Mama milk. A good snuggle and a sippy cup does the trick.

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I look forward to having another nursling this summer. It will be interesting the second time around knowing what I know now. I'm sure there will still be challenges, but the bond and closeness with my baby and knowledge that I'm doing the best I can for him is SO completely worth it.

• Transitioning Levi to a toddler bed has been amazingly easy. He really enjoys the freedom of getting in & out of bed himself. What's better, is this third trimester mama doesn't have to lift his 30 pound toddler body up over the crib rail and place him gently on the mattress 3 feet below. We haven't had any incidences of him refusing a nap or wrecking his room or even really testing the boundaries of sleep time. Apparently, the kid loves to sleep, which is pretty sweet. Two nights ago, on a whim, I checked the monitor before crawling into bed myself at 11pm. I glanced and quickly noticed that Levi wasn't in his bed. Huh. I squinted harder at the fuzzy monitor picture and saw movement. Levi was on floor next to his crib laying on his spotted blankie! He started rolling around and scooting himself under the crib. I stifled my giggles and ran to show Eric on the monitor. I left it with him as I went in to put Levi back in bed. Levi was totally zonked and by that point only his head & shoulders were out from under his crib! I gently pulled him out and situated him back in bed with his bop and blankies. Eric and I watched him a little longer on the monitor, but he didn't stir. I really wish I would have seen how he got out of bed in the first place, because he didn't make a peep! Did he fall out?! Did he purposely take his blankie with him and crawl onto the floor? Also, I am kicking myself for not taking a photo of this whole situation! It was so hilarious. Eric and I are still laughing about it.
• The other night we had chicken fingers, peas, and mac'n'cheese for dinner. Total kiddie dinner, I know. Don't judge. Levi devoured the peas and mac, but wasn't interested in the chicken. I tried some honey mustard dipping sauce on the chicken. That was met with shrieks of disapproval. Then I tried ketchup. First, he dipped the tiny chicken piece in the ketchup and licked it off. Hmm... not bad. He dunked it again, licked, and nibbled the chicken... still ok. He dunked (the same piece) a third time, licked, nibbled, & then ate the chicken. MUHAHA. Mama wins with a ketchup assist. He gobbled the rest of the chicken. With ample ketchup.
• I have been reading about how to best play & stimulate a toddler and a lot of what I've seen recommends drastically reducing the toys and books that they are exposed to at any given time. It's distracting and overwhelming if there is too much going on and they just get frustrated. So I took the initiative to start cycling his toys & books. I put at least half, if not more, of his toys in storage and I'll rotate them as needed. I totally buy the concept because he seems to be more into independent play and reading his books now. Plus it's way easier to clean up. One weird thing though: I left him 5 or so matchbox cars in a little plastic bin. Oddly enough, all of the cars have disappeared! The bin is still there, but no cars! It's been several days and I still haven't come across them. I wonder where they will eventually turn up?
• And finally a picture of him literally cheesing for the camera. If I ask him to "say cheese for the camera", he will run at the lens, say "CHEEEEES" and try to stick his nose on the lens. Interesting. :)
  

And now some outtakes from our photoshoot today... haha... Levi has learned the concept of saying "cheese" for a photo. What a ham!