Bye-Bye Bottles!

Our cutie! I must start with a picture of Ava, always!

Anyways, I finally did it. I got rid of her bottles!!!yay!!! As you may remember from a previous post, I was working on getting her to drink from a sippy cup. I eliminated the bottles except for her morning bottle and then her evening bottle. I tried to make the middle of the day sippy cup drinking experience fun so that she would like it. I would say, "what a big girl" and go ahhhh after she drank it and sometimes she copied me. Eventually I stopped her morning bottle and gave her a sippy cup with a snack in the morning and then gave the rest of it to her with her breakfast. She got the hang of it quickly. Then just a couple of days ago, I gave her her nighttime milk in a sippy cup and she drank it. It was as if she doesn't remember the bottle. So, we can finally have our kitchen back to almost normal. For the past year and one month, we have had her bottle drying rack and a bowl for dirty bottles/sippy cups on the counter top. I am putting it all away now. I just have to find a spot to put her sippy cups in the kitchen cabinets. Below is a picture of the monstrosity that took over our kitchen...



Ava has really discovered how fun it is to get into the kitchen cabinets. Two weekends ago, Mike baby proofed a couple of them (the important ones- the knife drawer and the ones below the sink). Now, we have to do the rest. I am going to leave 1 or 2 for her to play with stuff in because she thinks it fun. She loves to get into the cupboard and pull her food out, but we have lots of canned food down there and I am afraid one will fall on her precious feet.

She is growing up so fast. She is getting so close to talking. She says hhhh when we say hot or hat or anything with an 'h'. She is saying mamamama more and I think towards a person, so not just babble. I am trying to teach her more sign language so that if she is hungry or thirsty or tired, she can communicate that better than whining and pulling my pant leg.
She rubs her hands/arms together when I say "burrrr, cold", like we make the motion when we are cold. She is so cute when doing it. I have to get video of it all, so I don't forget, because she does some of the cutest things!
I just finished reading the Baby Whisperer and am currently working on her being ok with being by herself. I guess that is a part of separation anxiety. If she is playing and I leave the room, she will sometimes cry and come follow me. Sometimes there isn't any crying, but she has to follow me and if I am trying to wash the dishes or cook, she starts the crying and pulling on my pant leg to be held. I have caught myself saying, she just wants our attention and I can't clean or cook. That just means she has me wrapped around her finger. So, as suggested by Tracy, the baby whisperer, I get down to her level and looked her in the eye and in the shortest amount of words, let her know that I am right here and I am cleaning/cooking and that we will play as soon as I am done. She may fuss a bit more to be held, but I think she is getting it. I have to resist holding her when I know it is just whining because man do they learn fast. She is getting better playing for longer periods by herself if I am in the room. Soon, I will try to move out of the room and see if she can still play. Eventually, the idea is to get her to be able to play and me be able to walk out of the room and for her to know that I will come back. Part of this is also for me having to leave to go run an errand or go into the office for a meeting especially if we lose our sitter, jaclyn..
Next will be getting rid of the paci. I read that I am keeping it for her more for me than her. I know that to be true. She doesn't need it. I am trying to only give it to her for naps, bedtime, and playtime in her crib. Soon, I will take it away from playtime in the crib, then naps, then bedtime. The paci is some of the reason that she still wakes at night crying. It doesn't happen very often and it is usually early morning hours, like 4 am or 5 am, and i run in and give it to her, lay her down, get her bunny and off to sleep she goes, or I cross my fingers hoping for that. It usually works, but I want to be able to get rid of the monitor and to not worry that every noise is cause for me running to her room. A good nights sleep is all I am asking for !!