A Week Of Surprises

The first surprise was that we said goodbye to Elliot's crib this week.  Completely disassembled, removed from his room, and his room rearranged to make way for his growing toddler self.  He'd been sleeping on and off in the twin bed on the floor in his room lately, always during nap and sometimes during the night, but as of the last week or so he'd slept in it 100% of the time.  So Andrea took the plunge while I was at work on Friday.  Just like that, no more crib.  And Elliot is happy as could be.  He sleeps really well in his bed and never wakes up fully crying like he used to in his crib.  He'll just sit up and call for us until one of us gets to him.  It feels like such a huge "growing up" transition.

The second surprise--coming home from work to this amazing table of yummy treats!--was actually a celebration of the biggest surprise of the week... Elliot completely weaned himself this week.  Talk about growing up.  Just like that.  No more nursing.  He was already down to only nursing just before nap or before going to bed for the night (and only two nap-nursings a week since I've been at work) so he wasn't nursing that much anyway.  But as has always been true for Elliot, that little bit of nursing was a really big deal for him.  This boy has always like his nursing.  A LOT!  I thought for sure that weaning him was going to be an all out battle.  But slowly, over time, little bits fell away until we were down to just a bit before sleeping.  Then, one night about a week ago, Andrea just said they were going to go read books in his bed before he went to sleep, and off he went.  Straight to his bed to read, hear some Old McDonald, and have his back patted.  Then he was asleep.  And asleep for almost the whole night!  And then again the next night.  And the night after that.  And now even I can be the one to read, sing and pat him to sleep in his bed and he doesn't even mention nursing.  Just like that.  Weaned.

What a surprising week.  And it's also been a week with a lot more sleep in it--which helps everything.   So cross your fingers for us and hope for the best.  We think this is going to be our ticket to long-term sleep and a happy and healthy child.