The Cup

These are some random pictures from the week and this is a random post, but this is something that I get asked about all of the time. Aaron drinks from a regular cup without help. He is also very proficient with a water bottle (a regular 20 ounce Ozarka bottle). People comment to me all the time how funny it looks to see a 'baby' hoisting around his water bottle. My friends with kids Aaron's age are fascinated watching him drink from regular cups and glasses. They swear their kids couldn't do it.

So here's the story. When Aaron was 6 months old, we started introducing the sippy cup. He wasn't real interested and we weren't real concerned. When he hit 9 months we started pushing harder knowing that he would be weaned from the bottle at a year. Aaron would not drink from a sippy cup. We were told by many that it was the type of cup. So I bought different cups. We now own fourteen if anyone needs some.

Aaron refused the sippy. I was told that he wouldn't let himself dehydrate and if I really wanted him to drink from a sippy cup I could only serve his formula in them. I did not want to do that to him and I was pretty sure that the world wouldn't stop spinning if we had to go straight to a regular cup. But I did keep trying to some extent.

A week before he turned one, I gave it one more push knowing the bottle was about to go away and envisioning lots of spilled milk. During one of his feedings, I took his bottle, opened it and poured it into a sippy right in front of him. I then tried to feed him from the sippy. He took the cup from me and threw it across the room. Aaron is an easy-going child and this was not typical behavior. At all. I decided right then, 'this is stupid'. From that moment on, Aaron has drank only from regular cups. If someone gives him a sippy, he will hand it back and motion for the lid to be removed. I am not kidding. I really can not remember any significant spills. Occasionally, he will pour his water onto the carpet because that's really fun, but most of the time we have no issues. I tell people who are impressed not to be because (1) it's not like we trained him to drink from a cup, he trained us and (2) their kids probably really could drink from a cup, there's just zero reason to try it if they will happily drink from spill-proof sippies.

So, there's our story.