The End of An Era

This is it, folks, the last can of Parent's Choice Milk-Based Formula that Alex will ever have the pleasure of emptying. He had his last sippy of formula and his first sippy of whole cow's milk on Tuesday. His formula is the one and only thing he's ever formed an attachment to in his whole entire year of life, and I wasn't sure how he would handle the switch. So when he was throwing an impatience-prompted hissyfit Tuesday morning as I filled his sippy cup with milk, I thought, yeeaaaahhhh, this'll be interesting...He was a little unsure at first, and he didn't suck the whole thing down right away like he usually does with his formula. He would drink a little and then look at me and whine, like, ummm, 'scuse me, I think you've made a mistake here. Eventually he drank it all, and he's been pretty good about drinking it since.

The thing I've been dreading even more than the big switch was dropping his bedtime sippy. Ooh boy, I was not looking forward to that dreaded night when the clock struck seven and I had to just put him in the bed without first letting him have his precious nigh-night drink. Turns out I was more attached to it than he was.

I had planned on waiting until we had switched him to milk to drop it, so Tuesday night was the big night. After I gave him a bath, brushed his teeth, and got his jammies on, I let him drink some water out of his sippy while I read him some books. Then into the bed he went. He went right to sleep with no problems!! I was so relieved.

For me, that is a HUGE milestone. It's so bizarre to put him to bed without such a big part of what has been a year long routine, and kind of sad, too. Okay, really sad. But it's gotta happen at some point, I suppose. You can't exactly send a twelve year old to a sleepover armed with a warm bottle of milk in case he can't fall asleep...or can you...?