LeitingLove: Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the start of our camping season. We love to camp! Even with the little kids. Yes, it’s more work than play when you have a little ones, but it’s all worth it to see the fun they have. This year, we were joined by my parents, and Ed and his two eldest, Sophie (4) and Sawyer (2). The kids all had a ton of fun and we had just as much fun watching them! One of the funnier things to watch were all 3 older kids in the tent by themselves. They had the lantern and about 3 flashlights on. We were outside at the campfire and the kids were running and jumping around the tent. Their shadows were about 5 times their actual size and they had no idea their parents were watching them run wild in the tent! They had total freedom.

This trip also marked the end of the bottle for Wyatt. He has been down to one bottle a day for months but I was worried it would be hard to wean him from his bedtime bottle. Will was weaned before he could say the word “bottle” and it was very easy to move him to the sippy cup before bed. However, for some reason, I just wanted to keep the bottle a little longer with Wyatt. Time goes so fast now that we have 2 kids and it is a special bonding moment to hold Wyatt in my arms and give him that bottle while the world stops for 5-10 minutes. I didn't want to give up that peaceful time while we quietyly talked to each other, sang lullabyes, or just gazed into eachother's eyes. Wyatt LOVED his bottle every night and would start saying “bottle bottle bottle” as soon as we started putting his pajamas on. Once we got to the kitchen, it was hard to distract him during the quick 40 second warm up in the microwave, and forget about walking to the living room to sit down before it got to his mouth. This kid had to have his bottle NOW! I knew I had to cut him off the bottle before it got really hard.
Memorial Day weekend was the weekend I would try the sippy cup. Some of you may think I was crazy to try this while camping in a tent where all the other campers were within earshot of a screaming baby, and I thought so, too – so I hid the bottle in a backpack just in case. However, I also thought the distraction of camping, campfires, and an abnormal routine would be the perfect time to remove the bottle from the bedtime routine. So, around 7pm, we got his pajamas on, put some milk in a sippy cup, and sat by the fire with a book. I’m not sure there was much reading going on, he just enjoyed the mesmerizing fire like we all did. And, after that, down he went, without a peep or mention of the B word! Same thing happened the next 2 nights.

We returned home and haven’t brought the bottles out since! I guess it's time to pack up all the bottles and infant feeding supplies and dream about using them again for baby #3 someday.
Wyatt is a full time toddler and is awaiting his next big boy accomplishment – moving to the bottom bunk or potty training. Judging by his character, I think potty training will be easier than keeping him in a bed without 3 foot bars all around it!

Some pictures from our camping trip: