This morning, C woke up super early…seriously, like, earlier than the crack of dawn…”I wannnanurse youuu”.  Crap.  I quietly and gently welcomed him into bed for snuggles and, trying to preserve the peace, told him it was still night-time.  “I wannnanurse youuu.”  Next, I tried reminding him that we were putting stickers on the chart instead of nursing.  “No!  I wannnanurse youuu!” And then came the crying, the yelling.  I went through the litany of possible options, but none of them were what he wanted.  Ugh.  It was so early and my head was hurting so bad (I have a cold).

In the end, we got up (did I mention it was still dark outside?), got some cookie cereal ~ I’m replacing super nutritious breastmilk with the crappiest food ever ~ and all was right with the world.  He asked a few times while I was sitting on the couch, actually writing yesterday’s post, for nurses, but accepted the stickers instead.  He also climbed on to my lap and asked if he could sit with me.  He has NEVER asked to just sit with me, so I take this as a sign of progress.

I’m also realizing that I really have been quite the lazy parent with him and that a big chunk of his asking to nurse may simply be because he needs mama’s attention.  This is brutal to think about.  When did I become such a lazy parent?  I’ll save that for another post.  Needless to say, this “operation” is opening my eyes to other things and I *am* paying attention.

We were gone a lot today as well, and I think that is really helping.  When we’re on the go, he’s less likely to ask to nurse.  By the end of the day, he’s only asked a few times and only had two small episodes of being upset when I said no.  The rest of the time, he’s taking it like a champ!  I did forget to mention that yesterday he got upset a couple of times as well and said things like, “Mommy!  I’m not a big boy, I’m a little boy.  So, I can nurse you!”  It was so cute and so sad.  When he wants to be, this little guy is quite the charmer.

Back to the task….the sticker chart is working well!  I’m so pleased with that.  He really enjoys picking out a sticker, sometimes taking ten minutes to pick out just the right one (while I remind myself, internally, that this is part of it) and its new home.  He’s also gotten the hang of putting stickers on a certain day.  When we first started, he wanted to put them all over the place and I suggested we keep them on the “right” day.  Today, though, he rejected my “just put them anywhere” attitude and informed me that they needed to go on the right day.  Sheesh!

All in all, it’s going well!  Yay!

The story continues with Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five, Day Six and the end.