his bottle

For about two weeks now, Timothy has been getting his bottle out of the fridge and bringing it to me when he wants it. The fridge in the basement is a bar fridge, about the size of a small dishwasher, and we keep a bottle ready in the door. (He's been drinking his milk cold since he was about four months when Paul started giving him expressed breast milk straight from the fridge because Paul likes his milk cold and figured that Tim would too.)

In the morning, I feed Timothy his bottle in the rocking chair in our living room while I enjoy the view of the back garden. After lunch, he has it in the rocking chair in his room because he usually goes down for a nap when he's finished it. At night, he has his bottle in the rocking chair in his room. I always put it on the table next to the chair because I put him into his sleeping bag before I give it to him.

Depending on the time of day, Timothy takes his bottle to the same place that I would take him if I were initiating the feed. We find it touching in a way that I lack words to explain. He is expressing his independence and acknowledging our routine at the same time. He's showing what he wants and what he's learned. It's really just wonderful.

Tonight, when he got his night time bottle, Paul and I were watching Mama Mia. We listened as he opened the door, selected his bottle, and shut the door. When he toddled into the living room, he was carrying a can of beer instead of his bottle. He took that through to his room and placed it on the table beside his rocker. I replaced it with his bottle. I've just realized that he'll be fetching us beers a lot sooner than I'd hoped!