Hellobee

Once upon a time there was a little girl names Norahcurls. She was known around her neighborhood for her beautiful curly hair that was as red as a currant. One lovely afternoon, Norahcurls noticed something different on the tray of her high chair. She had never seen anything like it, so she picked it up to investigate. She turned it around and around in her hands and then upside down. She dropped it on the tray and it made a loud thump and then landed on her thumb. Ouch!

In her biggest baby voice, she announced, “This sippy cup is TOO HEAVY! ” and she threw it out the window.

Her Mama came into the room just then and realized the sippy cup was missing. She looked around for it and then asked Norahcurls where it had gone. Norahcurls smiled her most innocent smile and shrugged her shoulders. So Mama went off to find another sippy cup and brought it to Norahcurls. Norahcurls looked at this new sippy cup and wondered what the things were on the side of it. There was two things sticking out of this cup like the branches of a tree. She again turned it around and around and then upside down.

Then in her biggest baby voice she announced, “This sippy cup is TOO COMPLICATED,” and she threw it out the window.

Mama came back into the room again and realized that the second sippy cup had now gone missing. She looked around and then asked Norahcurls where it had gone. Norahcurls smiled her innocent smile and shrugged her shoulders. So Mama went off to find another sippy cup and brought it to Norahcurls.

Norahcurls was most shocked when she saw this third sippy cup. It had something long sticking out of the top. She poked at it with one finger and then with another. She chewed on it a little to see if it tasted good. She turned it around and around and then upside down. She couldn’t get anything out!

Then in her biggest baby voice she announced, “This sippy cup is TOO CONFUSING! ” and she threw it out the window.

Mama came into the room one last time and realized the sippy cup was missing. She looked at Norahcurls and shook her head. Then she smiled a patient smile and picked Norahcurls up out of her highchair. She carried Norahcurls into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She reached in to get something that was way in the back. She sat down with Norahcurls and cradled her in lap and passed her the newest cup.

Norahcurls smiled and said to herself,  “This bottle is JUST RIGHT.”

.  .  .  .  .

You can probably guess that our transition to sippy cups was a little less then smooth. Referring to my faithful parenting manual Moms on Call, I started having a sippy cup available to Lil’ Tea Cup at around 4 months. At this age, she used to sit in her high chair while we ate dinner and I would place a sippy cup with a little bit of water in it for her to investigate. Most days she would pick it up, sometimes it would end up in her mouth and once in while she would, pretty much by complete accident, get a little water into her mouth.

Around six months she started eating solids.  She was a fantastic eater from the start. Devouring everything and anything that I would offer to her.  However the sippy cup was untouched. I tried to pass it to her throughout meals and usually she would just push it away and ask for more food.

I understood that she wanted to eat instead. I mean pears, strawberries, sweet potato and all the other wonderful things she was eating were way more delicious than any cup of water! But I still wanted her to start drinking from a sippy cup as she was becoming less and less patient when it came to sitting and eating her bottle.

I thought about going cold turkey. Making the bottles disappear and only offering a sippy cup. However since her main source of nutrition was coming from her bottles through her formula, I worried that she might refuse to drink because she was frustrated. Although I am sure this would not have lasted forever, I didn’t want to go this route at her still  young age.

It was at this point I made some serious mistakes:

I tried every sippy cup available – I really should have a blog sale because I truly have at least 15 different kinds. I tried soft tips, hard tips, handles, no handles, straws,  and squirty tip nozels just to name a few. I thought maybe the problem was that she didn’t like the kind of cup that she was using. Turns out, I just mixed the poor kid up. She would tilt the straw cups back and try to suck out the sippy cup options, she would use the handles to throw her sippy cups even further away from her and then she forgot how to hold the no handle option. Basically, it was a disaster.

 I tried to “show her” how to drink from the cup –  Not bad in principal. I actually think that Lil’ Tea Cup did eventually learn to drink because of watching us do the same. However tipping it up for my girl just made her independent soul angry. She wanted to do it herself and did not want me to help her do it.  After I tried to teach her, she started to throw and push the sippy cup away as soon as she could reach it.

I got frustrated – I admit it, I was upset. I wanted her to figure it out.  However nothing makes my little girl stop in her tracks quicker than me not keeping calm. As soon as I got frustrated, all progress came to a halt and I needed to rethink things and do it fast!

After reminding myself that Lil’ Tea Cup would not still be drinking out of a bottle when she went to university (not the same type of bottle anyways), I decided to take a much calmer approach to things.

Sippy cup placement – instead of on her highchair where she could reach it, I put it  in front of her but out of reach on the table. Now she could point or use her signs and I would pass it to her — lots of opportunity to praise her for using her signs and for being a big girl! She loved asking for her “milk” and then handing it back to me almost immediately.

Choose one cup and stick to it – While I am all for personal choice, I think we all need to learn about limits.  As soon as Lil’ Tea Cup had the chance to experiment with the same type of cup for a week, she figured it out. Lo and behold she liked using the same bottles that she had been using with the sippy cup lids – just like I had planned on using in the beginning. It still bothers me when I think of all the money I wasted!

Let them be little– I decided that Lil’ Tea Cup  would do it when she was ready and that was okay. By 10 months old she was only having a bottle in the morning when she woke up and before bedtime. During the day she only drank from sippy cups. In the end, it worked out perfectly when I started to transition her to whole milk at around 11 months.

Truth be told, she still has her bottle, now of just milk, before bedtime. I love that time with her cuddling on the glider and her happily drinking away. Even if she doesn’t really need it at this point, I plan on letting her keep it a little longer.

Like all things with parenthood we miss it after it is gone – no matter how much we worked to get there!