fuss week

We're shaking things up. We have instituted several new policies around here that are part of Kai's acsension into toddlerhood. First off, and the most difficult, we have begun to ween him off his bottle and onto sippy cups. We're on day four of the transition, and it has been challenging. But according to his doctor, Kai must be off of the bottle by fifteen months, so we might as well do it now. We're also cutting back on the amount of formula he gets with each bottle, and are mixing in unsweetened soy milk with the formula. Erin and I watched a three year old boy on Supernanny that was still hooked on the bottle, so we're glad we're doing it now before he can talk back.

That being said, he definitely prefers the bottle over the cup.

We are also eliminating Kai's TV time. Kai does enjoy watching Baby Einstein videos, and truth be told, they're quite mesmerizing. And yet we know that we don't want to raise yet-another TV-addicted child. There's enough of those already.

On top of that Kai has six teeth that are slowly coming in. In adult terms, it would be like having a severe toothache while quitting drinking and smoking while the power's out and the car's broken down. Imagine how frustrating that might be, and that's probably close to how Kai feels.

The TV transition has been much less challenging. Today we experienced Kai's first meltdown when he didn't want to take a morning nap. He was kicking and screaming and making quite the spectacle of himself. Luckily Erin and I have been preparing for this so we weren't completely shocked. That's not to say that we knew what to do or that we were able to stop the meltdown before it got out of control, but at least we weren't surprised. Next we work on our response...

All in all, all of this change has added up to a fuss-filled week with Kai. But he's adapting to it like a champ.