Changes for Elly

Well, the past week has been a bit radical for little Elly.

First, she has progressed fully into the realm of toddler.

Second, she has completely abandoned the bottle.

Okay. So this isn't like nuclear fission kind of radical. But it's a little wild. And very cool.

I have decided that I really like the fact that Elly waited until she was 14 months old to walk. Really! I mean, I know I have spent almost 6 months worrying if something might be wrong with her or if she was ever going to walk since she didn't start at 10 months like big sister. But unlike Evie, who spent her first several months of walking falling into stuff, Elly hasn't fallen. Like at all. No bumps and no bruises. Only one tip over that caused a big meltdown. And of course she wasn't hurt then. Just wounded pride.

Once I got over the worrying, it has been a much less stressful experience. I spent all my time with Evie trying to keep her from breaking herself. And feeling super embarrassed going out into public with a baby that looked like I beat her with a sack of bricks.

Last night we had our first big game of chase. Evie is a big fan of running through the house screaming after each other. And for the first time Elly got to participate. I'm not sure Evie knew what to think. But Elly loved it! She laughed so hard she couldn't breathe. hehe. Too precious. I really need to get it on video.

And as of last Saturday, Elly no longer gets a bottle. And I'm a little sad. Especially since Elly doesn't care. No. Really. She doesn't care. I just told her that we weren't doing a bottle anymore. And she hasn't asked for it once. She just gets a small cup of milk during the same time. And she wants to drink it sitting in her little chair, not snuggled up in my lap like we did with the bottle. But thankfully, she wants to come snuggle after the milk and after we brush their teeth. So I do still get some loving time! But it makes me sad that she didn't miss the bottle.

So our next step will be ditching the paci. Then potty training and moving to a big bed. Eesh.

We have already cut back the pacifier to naps and bed time only. So it won't be hard to cut it out the rest of the time. Hopefully. She is cutting more teeth now, and I have always heard that pacifier sucking can help ease that pain. So I will wait until after she cuts these to take away the paci. But we might as well go ahead and do it.

After that I'm not sure which to do first. Evie did bed, then bottles, then paci then potty. I don't know if there is an issue with potty training while a child is still in a crib or not. Crib kind of screams baby. While potty training is definitely a big kid thing. So seems like we should do bed first. And I don't know that Elly and I are ready for that. Probably mostly me. Since Elly does fine climbing in and out of her sister's bed. But right now I can put her in her crib, close the door and be done with her for the night. If she wants to play, she plays and then she goes to sleep. With Evie we certainly don't have the battles we used to have at bed time, however, there is a certain amount of reminding and reasoning that we do every night.

"Remember, you have to stay in bed, Evie."

"How do dinosaurs say good night, Evie?"

"If you get up again I will take Duck away!"

You get the idea. Some nights it's merely a "Good night Evie!" "Good night Momma." "Sweet dreams Evie." "Sweet dreams Momma." "Love you Evie." "Love you too Momma." And I close the door and don't see her until 8 a.m. the next day. Sometimes I put her to bed at 10 p.m. and I am in there seizing stuffed animals still at 10:30 p.m. while she pleads and begs to get back up. But the bad nights are less and less common. So I'm hesitant to throw any premature wrenches in what seems to be a well-oiled bed time routine.

So what age is the "right age" to move to a bed?

Evie moved into a toddler bed at her first birthday. I think life might have been simpler if we had kept her in a crib longer. BUT I don't know that we had more problems than we would have had if we had waited.

The other challenge for when Elly moves into a bed will be the fact that Evie and Elly are going to be sharing a room. That will be a whole new challenge I'm sure.

So I guess we will go with paci, bed, then potty? Maybe we will all be ready for the bed transition by Evie's third birthday this August. Then start potty training Elly around her second birthday. Maybe after. I have learned the hard way with Evie that it will be easier to wait until she's ready. Rather than dealing with panties and pull ups and clean ups. Waiting until she's older and ready will be easier in the long run. Even if it means she spends more time in diapers. At her age she's only using three or four diapers a day. So it's less than $1 per day in diapers. I probably spend more than that in soap, water, time and aggravation on a day when Evie decides that she doesn't want to be potty trained. So I think that it will be worth the wait.

I don't look forward to changes in our routine causing upheaval, especially at bed time. But it'll be nice when the girls are snoozing together. And of course, change is just part of lil Elly growing up!