My 3-year-old daughter has a secret.
Oh, who am I kidding?
She isn’t the least bit secretive about it, this thing she does so brazenly.
It isn’t pretty.
My sensitive little beauty, wise and witty and kind beyond her years, still drinks a bottle.
Just one, of milk, each night before bed.
At least that’s how she acts, in that dramatic toddler way moms know too well.
But considering her delicate stomach and keen nose, I tend to believe her on this one.
It’s one of the last remnants of babyhood she’s still clinging to.
Nor does it help that said baby does still (more respectably) drink milk out of a bottle.
It’s almost like he’s flaunting it.
But let’s be honest here.
We were on the path toward overgrown bottle-drinking long before the baby of the house joined us.
For one thing, we didn’t break our daughter of the habit at the magic age of 1.
We were heading in that direction, I can assure you.
We’d read all the guidelines.
Heard tales of other moms and dads throwing their children’s bottles away on the first birthday.
And the other stories, those about kids still sucking away like infants when they were 4 years old.
Our then-only child was on the low end of the weight chart, and our pediatrician was worried.
Alas, our little girl, strong-willed even then, wasn’t having any of this milk-out-of-a-cup business.
Later, she’d reject it with a single, defiant word: “No!”
So I pared back, until eventually we were at just one bottle of milk a day before bed.
She can keep taking it ‘til she’s 2 1/2 or 3, even."
Oh, the bottle.
That is still with her, firmly in her grip.
There have been more tears and tantrums over that single pesky baby accessory than I ever thought possible.
It’s become harder than ever to get her to stop.
But at last, I can see the light.
Her teacher suggested that I give her a straw for her cup of milk.
So I bought a colorful stash.
“I did it, Mommy!”
Yes, she did.
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