Leia & Annie: Thumb, Food, & Milk

So, this is the kind of blog entry that I used to simply type into the girls' journals. I've noticed a few striking similarities and differences in regards to Leia Rose and Annie these days.

First, thumb sucking. Annie sucks her thumb (either thumb, by the way, although usually her left) by curling her fingers around her palm, just as you would imagine a child to do. Leia Rose used to suck her thumb (and only her left thumb) in a very original way, she used to flatten out her hand and curl it around her right cheek.

Second, food. Leia Rose had reflux and was spitting up far into her second year. She ate such a small amount of food and wasn't able to tell me when she was full, so this always led to overfeeding (which was a vicious cycle when it came to spit up). Annie hasn't spit up since her sixth month (but she has chronic ear infections). She eats such large amounts of food that she never seems to be full. Tonight Annie ate the equivalent of 3x what Leia would eat today. It was about 12 full ounces of food! I started with some dried fruit and continued with a 3 ounce meal I made for her. Through her signs and words, she communicated that she wanted more, so I gave her another 4 ounce jar of food and yet another 4 ounce container of fruit. We were floored!

Finally, breastfeeding. For both of my children, the end of nursing began with the first bite of solid food. I describe it as a downward spiral because as they would want to nurse less, I would produce less. But because Annie is a snuggler (and because I have been pumping to keep up milk production), I never expected her to give up breastfeeding so very soon! But it seems she's fighting me at every feeding now! She loves real food so much, and is used to it coming spoonful by spoonful, that the breastmilk doesn't come fast enough for her. She has taken to pulling back and jerking her head up and down in order to try and make the milk come out faster. When that doesn't work, she pushes away. This morning that very thing happened, and when she pulled back, she signed "eat." Wow. Leia Rose really weaned herself the same way, but she always had a very special feeding before her nap. We kept this feeding until she was 18 months old, at which time I realized that it was only me who wanted to keep her nursing and she actually said, "Bye!" to my bosoms! I wonder what will happen with Annie as we continue breastfeeding? Tonight I just held her close while she sucked her thumb. That was a nice cuddling substitute. : ) So as anyone can see, this is actually just a Mamma sadness, . . . Annie is doing just fine. She's just a bit more independent that I thought she was. That's a good thing.