Oregon is a wonderful place to be nursing a toddler!  Tum Tum is nearly 18 months old, and I am very grateful to live in a place where doing what is normal and healthy is culturally accepted as normal and healthy.   Granted, this being my third nursling, nursing past the WHO minimum recommendation of 2 years – and comfortably nursing an older baby in public – is an accepted reality for our family.

The other week, we were out at the library, Tum Tum was tired, cranky, and it was naptime, so I sat down to nurse him while the girls looked at books.   A woman actually came up to me and said, “Way to go on breastfeeding your toddler.  I breastfed my daughter until she was 2.  Keep it up!”   Seriously, I love Oregon.

I am glad my son and I can continue to share the benefits of breastfeeding as long as it mutually benefits us both.  (By the way, did you see the CDC’s recommendaton? - Keep breastfeeding to protect your child from H1N1.).

If you haven’t checked out the classic, Mothering Your Nursing Toddler, and also Hilary Flower’s book, Adventures In Tandem Nursing, both are helpful resources.

Tum Tum highly recommends Breastmilk Makes My Tummy Yummy by Cecilia Moen. 

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite Scripture verses – I love how God uses the imagery of a nursling and his mother to show His comfort, peace and provision for the people of Israel.

¹⁰” Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
all you who mourn over her;
¹¹that you may nurse and be satisfied
from her consoling breast;
that you may drink deeply with delight
from her abundant breast.^“

¹²For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip,
and bounced upon her knees.
¹³As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

- Isaiah 6: 10-12

This is why I love Southern Florida  – beautiful 80 degree days (in January!!) spent relaxing on the beach.  It was a windy day, but the sun was shining, and the girls were very busy searching for shells, splashing in the shallows, and building fairy castles in the sand. 

Tum Tum really enjoyed himself, too.  After a brief attempt at eating the sand, he settled for just squishing his fingers and toes in it.   A pair of osprey kept circling overhead (their nest post was directly behind us), and he’d squeal with delight when they flew over.

This weekend we’re driving the half an hour to Sanibel – with the best shelling in the world, but yesterday’s excursion to Bowditch Beach was a wonderful beginning to the sun-n-sand season.

Ahhh, bliss…