We are bottle-free!

Whew, it has been a long time coming! Of course, we are a year late...whatever! I know you're supposed to have your baby off the bottle by their first birthday but Kylie's "pacifier" was her bottle because she stopped taking an actual pacifier at around 3 months old. So while it's easy for some parents to take away the bottle by their 1st birthday, a lot of those kids still have pacifiers to help get them to sleep. Anyway, this round was a BREEZE. We've tried taking away the bottle before, and it was a nightmare. This time, we started with giving her the bottle regularly at nap time but giving it to her during story time at night. The first night I did that, she asked for another bottle when it was time for bed. My explanation was that "bottles are for babies, and you're not a baby...you're a big girl!" She was upset but I consoled her, and she fell asleep fairly quickly. The next day we gave her a bottle for nap time but no bottle at bed time at all. She asked for one, and we went through the same thing again...me telling her bottles are for babies and telling her she's a big girl and her getting upset (less upset than the first night). The 3rd day and ever since has been a breeze! She actually didn't take a nap on the 3rd day, 4th day, or 5th day because she was sick, and our schedule was all messed up from sleeping in. But every one of those nights, she went to sleep just fine without the bottle. She has actually started making it a joke asking for the bottle, and when I laugh and say "no...," she says "I not a baby! I a big gul!" and rolls over to fall asleep. Today is the 6th day and was the first time she has taken a nap without the bottle, and I am in shock at how quickly she fell asleep! I am glad we waited so it wasn't a traumatic experience. But I do hope Baby G is much easier to take off the bottle!