Those beautiful blues....

My husband took this picture he took today and made it black and white but left bubbas eyes alone...he didn't do anything to his eyes! Also, the original for comparison.

"Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat"

So, today is day 4 without the beloved bottle...it has been hard but our little guy has been brave...there are all of the usual cons (including me picking the very week that his 2 bottom incisors are poking their sharp asses thru to wean him!), but also an unexpeted pro or two...even though he wakes up screaming bloody mary at night, its only once or twice a night (after screaming bloody mary for an hour to get him to sleep in his special shoes without his bottle, which have always been associated with each other)...BUT, now he only does that instead of waking up 1 time an hour panicked because his bottle isn't in his hand or mouth and god forbid has slipped down a few inches...I'm starting to think the bottle was keeping him awake! Who wouldn've known we'd get more sleep during this week of hell...(knock on wood)...He's a big boy and has gotten a few smoothies for being so brave, and a few extra special dates...a few with me to the health food store, where he gets to drive his own cart and hear everyone tell him how adorable he is...then...we explored our local library...not the cool new one downtown, but the little one in the old beautiful building in our neighborhood...its amazing, it has a lil play area and a stage and of course computers (his other addiction) in the childrens department, which happens to be the entire downstairs of this old building...and a big fishtank...
I went with him and he played with 2 8 year old boys for an hour going up and down the slide and breakdancing on the stage...it was perfect, a huge blessing...he loved playing with the boys and he got so worn out that he took his first nap post bottle...a few days later we went back with daddy and had just as much fun. We are trying to keep him busy and worn out while having fun, and I think it is working!

THEN!, Daddy decided to take us to the new Childrens museum downtown...OH MY GOD is all I can say....omg...there were so many kids there and so many interesting exhibits and places that were only for little ones to learn and play and interact...3 floors of fun! real fun.
We have decided against his lil gym membership now and are going to get him a membership here instead...not only is it cheaper and for longer with a million more benefits...but this museum has everything I have been looking for for him.

Safe, fun interaction with every type of kid and age group imagineable...
Very stimulating activities. Great socialization. Gets us out of the house in the winter. Really really makes him think. Really gives him lots of exercise. It will grow with him. He's learning more communication skills with other kids...(In the last picture above here what had happened was he and this little girl were playing with a swinging door and she yelled at him (she was younger) and he froze....and made this face and stuck with it. There are so many different things to play with and learn from...too bad this wasn't here when his cousins were intown...

We did have one bad accident though :(, he tripped while running towards me because I wanted to show him something and he smacked his forehead HARD on the corner of a wood ball bin...It was the worst head accident we've had...I think if it were concrete, he definitely would've split his head open like his cousin Rickie did...it was sad, but he healed well, and you can see the huge red bump in the middle of his forehead in some of the pics..

Also my husband talked to the buyer there about selling the Butterfly Alphabet Poster that we sell at their gift shop because it would be perfect there!
All in all, its perfect, simply perfect. We are so lucky to have it here, and lil bubba had a nice treat...
Now we can go all the time as opposed to the gym which would be once a week for 45 minutes. I think we were at the museum for 4 hours.
I'm really starting to get into my new city.

“The reward of suffering is experience”, and a fun trip to the new Children's museum!