It's been a stressful week for me which is why I've been a little quiet. Work is stressful. The project I'm leading is getting more and more complicated and not slowing down any. And then home is stressful too. James decided to suddenly wean himself last Friday and has refused to nurse since. He's done this before when teething but Kris and I didn't think that was it this time. I think James is just done. You all know how attached to breastfeeding I am so this has been especially hard for me. It was such a natural progression with Annika that as she got older she wanted to nurse less and less until she was only nursing in the mornings when I was home. And she was 18 months old by that point. This blunt "I'm done" from James is so much worse, especially since I have to keep pumping since he's too young yet for cow's milk and we don't want to start formula at this late stage when I'm still producing enough for him. Anyway, I've been very sad this week, usually crying while pumping or just thinking about this too hard. I even cried on a co-workers shoulder this week whose son did the same thing at 9 months. Boys - breaking their mothers hearts! It's a good thing James is so cute! And he's doing so many new things lately! He started clapping last Friday. And now he loves to play peek-a-boo. If you put his blanket over his face he'll pull it down, cover it back up, pull it down, etc. with you saying peek-a-boo whenever he pulls it down. Then he giggles and smiles and has so much fun. And last night as I was changing his diaper at bed time he put his arms up over his head. I said "so big!" Then James put his arms down so I said "how big is James" and he put his arms back up again so I said "so big" again. We played that game for a little while then too. So cute! He's also started dancing this last week. If we have music on or even music on a commercial he'll bounce up and down while standing holding on to something. And if the music stops then he stops and he'll start back up again when the music comes back. He dances! And his walking is getting better. Every time he does it Annika exclaims "Look! He's walking by himself!" James usually starts out walking now, gets so far and loses his balance and then crawls the rest of the way. He needs to work on that balance yet.

As for Annika, ever since I've been leaving the tv off at night, I haven't given Annika a single time out. Direct correlation? I think so. Sure, she still tries to get into things and push the limits but because I'm not distracted by the tv I can redirect, discipline or teach her before it gets to the timeout limit.

Annika has always had pretty good pronunciation for a little kid, I think. She has problems with the "th" sound though. This week Kris and I have been trying to show her where to put her tongue to make that sound. She's starting to get it but the process has been funny. First she sticks her tongue completely out of her mouth, then she puts her tongue between her lips then she puts her tongue behind her teeth all while trying to ask if that's the right way. It's made for some funny conversations. She finally got it the other night and was the recipient of a great big hug and kiss from me.