Squeaker officially gave up her bottles today. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.... a 4 year old has no need to use a bottle, I am destroying her teeth by letting her use a bottle, 4 years old is WAY to old for a bottle how did you let it go that long? So this isn't a big deal, she is 4. Well guess what this is a big deal for OUR 4 year old. What makes it even more awesome is it was her choice. We've been working for months on getting Squeaker to give up her bottles. But to her they aren't just bottles. They are security. Taking away her bottles is the same as taking away a child's toy or blanket that they sleep with all the time. We didn't want to just rip it away from Squeaker. We were trying to use less and less bottles. We'd make her wait certain times before giving her more. It's been a struggle. But little by little it's been getting better. The last month or so we've been offering to buy her a new a new cup or bottle for night time. We aren't opposed to letting her have something to drink during the night it was just time to move on from baby bottles. Well today she did it.
We were at Wal-Mart and I decided to take her by the water bottle section. Just to see if there was something she wanted. As usual she found a bottle she liked. I told her the deal was I would buy her the new Elsa bottle she wanted but she would have to give up ALL her baby bottles. Usually at this point Squeaker gives back whatever she has picked out. Then tells us she will stick with her baby bottles. Today she didn't. I checked with her several times. Making sure she understood the commitment she was making. I even said we were going to go home and throw out all her baby bottles. There was no going back. Once home Squeaker wanted to gather up all her bottles and throw them out. We did and as luck would have it is trash night. She even helped me take the bag to the curb. And when it came time for bed she wanted her new bottle and we snuggled up. No fuss, no fight. She has even had one wake up so far. She didn't ask for her baby bottles, she just wanted a quick drink, fussed for a few minutes, and then back to sleep.
I'm still in a little shock and awe of how quickly this happened. I mean it shouldn't, Squeaker has always been one that once she decided she was going to do something she did it. Today was the day she gave up baby bottles.
Time to get back to work. Moving day is in 5 days!
