A 2 year old with some new firsts

Last week, was the first time I was away from Baby Bear for an extended amount of time and today was a day of a more new firsts for Baby Bear. We started the morning with Baby Bear riding forward facing for the first time in her car seat.

Many people move their child around after they turn 1, but the American Academy of Pediatrics have revised their recommendations and state that toddlers should stay rear-facing until the age of 2. The research really suggests that it is safer to keep your toddler rear-facing. We decided to follow those recommendations. We probably could have kept her rear-facing for a little longer based on the car seat's weight requirements and since Baby Bear wouldn't have known otherwise.

We decided that it was a good time to move her around. At first she was confused and curious about the new position of her car seat and when I put her in and she looked forward, she was all smiles. I think she likes the change.



The second first of the day occurred before bedtime. Baby Bear did not have a night time bottle, instead she had her milk in a cup like she does during the day. 20 months ago, I was worried about Baby Bear taking a bottle, she had gone on bottle strike and as I got ready to go to work, I wondered if she would take a bottle. All went well even though she never took a bottle from me, but when mama was away she took a bottle from whoever was caring for her. At 22 months, breastfeeding came to an end. It took time to transition her to a cup even though she would drink everything but milk from a cup. Baby Bear needed to be weaned slowly, that is just her way. So we slowly weaned her off the bottle. We went from having 4 bottles a day to 1 bottle, just in the evening before bedtime. She still often asks for a bottle during the day. Tonight, we went without a bottle and Baby Bear didn't even ask for her bottle. She did great. I hope it goes just as smoothly tomorrow. My Baby Bear is growing up. I guess the next transition is to start potty training, then she really won't be a baby anymore. No matter what she will always be my baby girl, my Baby Bear.