Oh no! Mom's trying to wean me!

This blog is supposed to be about mother-son togetherness, but lately I've been going to great lengths to put a buffer zone between myself and Calvin. That's right, after nearly twenty months of attachment parenting and extended breastfeeding, I'm finally trying to wean him.

"It ain't easy" seems to be Quinn and my parental mantra and this is no exception. But I'm starting to make some progress. I've been having a babysitter come as often as I can for a few hours a day, just so that he can have a good time away from me. I've kept out refrigerator stocked with treats like chocolate milk, chicken sticks and crackers. Now, when he starts to say "boobah," I say, don't you want chocolate milk, and he's started to become satisfied with the chocolate milk. Sometimes I bribe him with ice cream.

It's important, because when he's always hanging on me, and always wanting to drink breast milk, I get sick of it. It annoys me when I'm trying to cook dinner and he's hanging on my leg. I would like to just give him a snack (or have him wait until it's time to eat) and have him be happy with that. I just need to give him snacks at the right time, and get away from him when I can. Today I went for a run when the pizza was cooking, and when I got back, he had his slice and was no longer chasing me around.

Anyway, to wen your baby, all you need is ice cream, chocolate milk, and babysitters.

It's too dang hot to hike in Houston!

We went to Houston a couple of weeks ago and it was so armpit hot, we just wanted to wallow in the airconditioning the whole time.

But we still needed to get exercise for ourselves and for Calvin. So we went to the Katy Mills Mall. That's where Margaret, Quinn's Mom, does her daily three mile walk. So naturally, when they babysat Calvin so that we could go out for an anniversary dinner, they did it at the mall. A couple of days later, Quinn and I took him there ourselves.

Quinn usually complains about how overstimulating the mall is, but this time he changed his tune. Between the train rides, the ice cream, the Rainforest Cafe (a restaurant that Bob and Quinn swore they would never enter - but couldn't wait to take Calvin to) and the play land, the mall is the perfect place to take Calvin.

Here are some pictures of us having fun at the mall.