Bye-bye Bottles!

So it's official: my baby is not a baby anymore.  She's a toddler.  Everything baby has been completely removed from her life.  Well, almost.  She still has her beloved paci.  I believe that she will follow in Momma's footsteps and cling to that little piece of silicone and plastic until she, out of desperation, flings it over the side of the crib, never to be seen again.*  

And come to think of it, she's still wearing diapers, so I retract my statement.  She can still be my baby.  But I did have one of those "She's so grown up!" moments tonight.  If you recall, Skye's doctor advised on our last visit that Skye needs to complete the following things before her 15 month check up: be on all table food, be on a regular sleep schedule, and be off the bottle.  We accomplished the first two items within two weeks of that visit, and tonight we completed the last item.  Skye was bottle-free today.  *sigh*  

She cracks me up, though, because she knows that she still likes to suck and she doesn't get enough suck time from the sippy.  So she will sit cradled in my lap, sippy in one hand, paci in the other.  Every few seconds she will take a break from the sippy to enjoy some paci action.  She did this for a while when we phased out the afternoon bottle.  I'm thinking it'll last a week tops, and then she'll be all sippy.  I just can't believe that she's grown this much this fast.

This morning I visited my brother, sister-in-law, and my new little niece Lydia.  She's 8 days old.  It was so wild to watch Emily nurse that little baby and to hold her tiny body in my arms.  Changing her diaper was a breeze!  No wrestling!  It was incredible!  Sure she fussed, but she just laid there!  But I tonight I'm reminded of just one year ago when I would awkwardly nurse Skye, and now she's chugging her milk from a sippy!  I know it's such a small step in her development, but it's a big deal to me. 

She's also climbing and her chatter is starting to sound intelligible.  For example, we played peekaboo, and she tried really hard to say "Where's Skye?"  "There she is!"  She also told Daddy to "Stop it!"  And tonight she was trying to use a Pampers box to climb onto the TV stand.  I just can't get over how big she's getting.  Oh yeah!  She has also claimed her lovey, and you'll never guess what it is...  her belly button.  She loves to walk around the house, pinching her little outie.  

In other news, I don't think that I've blogged about my recent Martha Stewart obsession...  Anyway, tonight I made a delicious Shepherd's Pie topped with melted sharp white cheddar cheese.  It was awesome, but let me tell you, it did not take the one hour that the recipe boasted it would take.  Nice try, Everyday Food!  It took nearly two hours, but in my opinion it was worth the wait!  Man, I loves me some food.

And with that, I am off to an evening of Rockband with Michael.  We haven't played in a few weeks, so we downloaded some new songs.  I wonder if the No Doubt album is out yet...

*When I was three my life changed forever - my little brother (a.k.a. my first child) was born.  The night that Mom brought him home from the hospital I dropped my paci underneath my crib.  My mom told me that if I wanted it I had to get it.  I'm sure that I threw a tantrum, knowing nothing about the sunny-side up delivery that my mother had recently experienced.  So I guess out of laziness I gave up the paci.  Or maybe I just decided that it was time to grow up.  Who knows?  I did know that there was a baby that I had to take care of.  Since that day, I have been his second (and less favorable for whatever reason) mother.