Invisible Milestones

Will and his garage sale 'find'...a remote control Combine. If you're a good boy Jim - Will will let you drive it.

Not all milestones in a child's life are visible to the outside world. Things like first teeth, first words, first steps, or no more diapers can be seen and witnessed by other people. Will and I reached a milestone the last few weeks that I think warrants mention - even if it isn't something that people outside our family can see.

Will is almost 23 months old now. Up until a few weeks ago we'd had a very strong breastfeeding relationship. Although he'd only been nursing about once a day for 2 months, I didn't know exactly what laid in our future. He stopped waking every couple hours at night starting in February. Once I was getting a consistent good night's sleep I didn't care how many times he nursed during the day!

Saturday, May 9th we settled down for bedtime. Teeth were brushed - pj's were on. Will's normal routine consisted of a few minutes of 'num-nums' and then off to bed with a song. As I sat on the couch, waiting for him to join me, he shouted "NO!" picked up a book and started climbing the stairs to his room. I shrugged at John and followed Will, off to read a story, sing a song and tuck in for bed. It's been that way ever since.

This past Tuesday the kids and I attended a local breastfeeding group that we've become involved with. Because of schedule conflicts this was our first meeting in about a month. It's here that Will sees other kids nursing and often asks to nurse himself. This day was no exception. I paused as he asked for mum-mums, thinking gosh - it's been a month Will! But I wanted to give him the chance if that's what he felt he needed. He got on with a HUGE grin, knowing that it was something he hadn't done in a while. Then he started laughing, then I started laughing. He had really forgotten how to do it and just wanted to be close. So we opted for strawberries instead.

I thought I would be really sad when the time came for Will to wean. But I'm not! I'm excited for him and for this new journey. I thought it would be nice to make it to his 2nd birthday, but that was a time table I had in MY head. Will had other ideas. I don't care - I'm still going to say he was nursed for 2 years. :)

So that was our 'invisible' milestone. But now you know so - it's just a milestone.