Goodbye to Formula

Today I threw out the last empty formula canister. We have been using it up in the bed time bottles for a few weeks now and it was empty.

Note the little reminder on top to close it!
See how wet it looks?
That is why I wanted it closed!
That is water splashes from the last 3 months....

Liam is now just eating regular food and having milk in his bottles and sippy cups. Sometimes just water in his sippies, occasionally water mixed with a little juice (which is cause for much celebration!)

In a way this feels like a big step. I debated for a long time over keeping him on formula for longer than a year, on what kind of milk to use (we went with Darigold, since they use local dairies and his milk is coming from close by and not some where across the country) and if he was eating enough food to get a balanced diet.

It seems like such a simple thing but being responsibly for someone elses food intake is kind of intimidating. Did he eat enough protein? Grains? Is two green beans enough for a serving, since he is refusing to eat more? Can I make up lack of veggies with fruit? Does it matter that sometimes he won't eat his lunch and cries and cries and cries and throws food away from him and refuses everything but a bottle? Is it bad that after wasting food and trying to help him for 45 minutes I give in and give him that bottle? Should I worry on the days he seems to live on fruit and milk and air?

And the ever present one... when will he stop using a cup and plate as a toy and stop dumping them over onto the tray or himself or the floor!?!?!?! He would rather play with a plate and gnaw on the edge of it than eat a meal when he is clearly hungry. He will take one sip from a cup and then shove his hand in there and splash around or dump it out so he can inspect the bottom of the cup. So we try these things every now and then, but most of the time I am too tired to stress about cleaning up after him so I just don't give him those options.

Maybe I can start putting a single piece of food at a time onto a plate. Once he eats it, he gets another one. We try one sip at a time in a cup but for whatever reason in his little mind he will NOT lift a cup up high enough for just one sip of water and he gets mad and throws the cup down or turns it over.

It is all just a work in progress and he will catch on when he catches on. I am pretty sure that if we ate as a family more and he got to see these things in action he would do them. But we don't... I try to have lunch with him so he sees that one with plates and cups and forks. And we usually have breakfast together.