Almost 6 years of nursing

My first time signing on to the blog for a long time.  I know I haven't blogged for a long time, but was surprised to find that it has been over 9 months.  A lot has happened; Samuel's first day of kindergarten; Shira's first day at preschool.  Many trips, some deaths, Samuel has learned to read and add and subtract.  The Giants won the World Series and Samuel became an even bigger sports fan than before.  At some point, I hope, I will try to catch up on some of the exciting stuff that I haven't posted here.

But today's post is to document, before I forget, the beginning of the end of almost 6 years of nursing.  Samuel stopped nursing around this time 2 years ago.  Shira is currently in process.  When I told her we were only going to nurse twice a day, several months ago, at bedtime and in the morning, Shira was not pleased with the change.  There was a number of times that she insisted on nursing more often and I said "no".  There were also times when I saw her need (or was too worn down by the crying) that I said "yes'. 

But last week I told Shira that we were only going to nurse once a day, and she completely took it in stride.  She has told me a few times, recently, that she is going to stop nursing soon, because the "nurses" don't have much milk in them anymore.  She has forgotten to nurse multiple days in a row.  When she does nurse, it is not for long. 

She nursed this morning, and I wanted to make sure to write it down, because I have a feeling at some point in the next month or two, I am going to look back and say, "When was the last time we nursed?"  And I will have no idea when that was.  Today may be it, or one day next week, or two weeks from now, but we are clearly on the path to the end.

Nursing continuously for nearly six years has been more than enough for me, but it feels very weird, that something I have done for so long is coming to an end.  The end feels so anticlimactic.  Nursing was so significant for so long, and now, not so much.  No marker.  No event.  No grand change.  Just the end.

Time to move onto the next part.