Bottle Weening

Well yes, we have offically (I think) weened Tyler, well started to, off the bottle. I didnt think it was that big of a problem. It had gotten worse during the winter i guess cause we were inside all the time, he would just carry it around in his mouth and constantly want it and every time i would try to take it away from him, it would just be sad, so I wouldnt. I would just keep putting it off, I would say well its just so easy with him right now and especially with having Hailey, he was just perfect, on the perfect schedule, everything and I was afraid to mess that up and cause havoc. But thursday, i was turning the tv on for Tyler and I saw that Leah Remini (the actress from King of Queens) was going to be on Rachael Ray talking about how her 3 and a half year old is still on the bottle and how she has attempted and failed several times to take her off. I related to a lot of the feelings she had toward her child and the situation, i really liked when she said, "if it doesnt feel right, then do what feels right for you and your baby" I was like yeah, you are so right! She was being so honest and i was just like yeah, yeah YEAH! I feel the same way! So I watched the whole hour of it and it was very enlightening. The consistency stuff i know, i agree with, i know that once I start that I need to keep with it or its just going to get harder and harder the next time I try, i know the stuff about the teeth, things like that. The thing that got me was that the child doctor was explaining how when children use the bottle to go to bed they associate getting comfortable and going to bed with sucking, so like how we move or adjust our pillow, they (the child with the bottle) need to suck on something to put them back to bed and i never thought of it that way. But it was so true. When he was sad or needed comfort and especially if he ever woke up in the night, he would reach over to his bottle and start sucking it to put him back to bed. He eventually didnt even need milk in it to fall asleep, just the sucking on the bottle. Then she was talking about how pediatricians tell you to ween them off a bottle at a year, and she said more than 50% of parents dont, that by 18 mths they do and a few stragglers wait til they are 2. That would be ME. SO I was like ok, I'm going to do it. David had been telling me to do it, just take it away, things like that, but I would tell him that he is not home with them and I am the one that has to deal with the repercussions. So I waited and waited thinking that one day i would feel that the time was right, so when I saw this I was like okay, I need to do it. I was ready for the kicking and screaming, etc. I can handle it and I wont give in. He is on a regular schedule so he knows when he takes his naps and goes to bed, so after that episode I told myself that i would try it for his nap. Well he usually goes down at noon and sleeps til about 3 or so, so I thought maybe if he was really tired then he wouldnt notice as much. So at 12:30 I grabbed his blanket (blankets arent bad right?) :) and I said "okay its time for nap time" he went with me, we went to his room, i laid him down. covered him, kissed him and said "night, night". He had a puzzled look on his face when I didnt leave him with the bottle, he smacked his lips a couple of times, like he does when he wants his bottle, and i said "i love you!" and walked out. He didnt immediately start crying but he soon did. I skyped David this....

bottle weening in progress - 12:31pm
please be home right after work if possible-12:31pm (I was obviously bracing myself for the worst)
12:30 put down, still crying-12:31pm (yes I am use to now crying when I put him to bed, so a WHOLE minute of it was bad)
still screaming-12:38pm
SUCCESS-12:48pm
no more crying-12:48pm
it just took 18 mins and me keeping him up for forever til he was super tired-12:49pm
YAY!-12:49pm
dont let me regress dave!-12:49pm
we need to take him out somewhere tonight to get him real tired before bed tonight-12:49pm
with no bottle again tonight-12:50pm
cool beans!-12:50pm
i'll tell you why I decided to do it now, later, love you bye-12:51pm

So that was nap time, I then put Hailey to bed and then at around 2:15 I hear him start to cry, I was like OH NO! so I left him for a few minutes and when I realized he wasnt going to bed, I went in there, tried to lay with him, but no, so I took him downstairs. He was very clingy for about an hour or so, but then it started to SNOW! So I opened the back door and we started to play with the snow...yes I took pics, I'll post them later :)
So David came home at around 6ish and i was like okay, where are we going....he said no where but I insisted so we went to eat at costco, we got some pizza and berry smoothies (we love them) then we went to see Horton Hears a Who, cute movie, Tyler was kinda scared at the beginning but ended up watching the whole thing. So we got home at about 9, he usually goes to bed by 8. So again we do the same thing, David made me do it because he said i was the one that started it, so i need to finish it, anyways, so I lay him down, he didnt ask for it this time, but again started crying once I shut the door. He cried for about 20 mins, I was thinking it would be worse. He slept all night and woke up happy! YAY!
So today, we had a few errands to run...we ran them :) I got him some krispy creme donuts and their new fruit chillers on the way. We got home and I laid him down but today he didnt lay down, and today he really didnt take a nap. He cried off and on for about 2 hrs. I finally went in to get him when he was crying straight for about 10 mins. We played outside with his new bucket and shovel I got him at walmart. The little neighbor girl came out to play too so he had fun, David got home, we ate dinner and then I thought we could go for a walk because it was still pretty nice out and I thought that would relax him, he loves walks and it seems like every time we go on one, he gets sleepy. So we came home, I put him in bed and he didnt ask for the bottle, but he cried a little bit, less than 10 mins though.
So that was the past 2 days. Bottle weening is in progress! He has actually done very well, I had a whole scenario in my head and it was so so so much worse! Thankfully its not. So I hope he continues to do good. Luckily he wasnt even sad and today he didnt ask for it all day. Hopefullly the weather stays pretty nice that we can play outside and things like that, so that has been my bottle experience so far. Wish me luck if you have any advice, please give it, I hope to stay strong and have him off it. Oh and if you are around me, please do not say bottle, I have been spelling it around David and anyone else I talk to, its funny. So thats that, I just wanted to share my experience. More updates later, oh my goodness, you are not going to believe this, he totally just started crying! AHHHH! okay, we'll i'll keep you posted......