It happens naturally

Little A has a new habit. She likes to throw things in the trash can. Not trash, mind you, but things we actually use. Like forks. Toys. And her bottles. So we suddenly found ourselves with only one bottle to our name. Little A LOVES her bottle. She gets three each day - morning, naptime and bedtime. So with only one bottle, I've been handwashing it all day. We went to Target today and I intended to pick up another bottle. But then I decided that didn't make sense, since our pediatrician recommended cutting out the bottle by age 2. And if she keeps throwing them away - well, maybe she is trying to tell me something. So we bought a couple of special bottle-like sippy cups and today at naptime, we tried one out. She didn't blink an eye, just took it and drank it up like normal. Could it really be that easy? Where were the screams, the tantrums, the protests?

Huh.

I've been realizing that kids really do meet milestones at the their own pace. Like the way Big A gave up sucking her thumb on her 4th birthday. Before that, no matter what we said, she still sucked. And then there's teddy. Teddy has been with Big A since she was a few months old. She was SO attached to teddy. He was her constant companion when sleeping. In the last few weeks, she hasn't been asking for teddy. Without our even noticing, she gave up her most prized possession.

Huh.

It happened that way with potty training too. We tried and tried for months to get her to go potty and then suddenly one day, it just clicked and she was instantly potty-trained. It makes me realize that this parenting thing doesn't always have to be so hard. Our kids are not going to go off to college wearing diapers, sucking on bottles and clinging to a pink teddy. They are going to grow up as they are ready, and its our job to guide them there, but not push them. To let it happen naturally.