In an effort to use less plastic, we have decided to use mostly regular dishes with Little Lion. I have been so surprised that he is so much more careful when we use items made of glass than when we give him plastic. So far so good… no breaks yet!

1. Cups – While we are not completely drinking from an open cup, we are making great progress in the right direction. The key for us is only pouring a very small amount in the cup at a time. We have found that shot glasses and other small glasses work the best. I found a few at a local thrift store, and they are working out very well. We also have a reflo cup. This one is plastic (we chose the clear one so that it looked more like glass.) It works pretty well if we want to give him more milk at once, but I prefer using the glass most of the time.

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2. Plates – We didn’t have to buy any special plates for LL since we already had some perfectly sized appetizer plates. These work really well. Ours were a wedding gift and came from Crate and Barrel.

3. Pitcher – Since we have to give LL just a little milk at a time, we started filling a small ceramic pitcher that would normally be used for cream for coffee to bring to the table so that we don’t have to pour from the gallon carton. Eventually LL will learn to pour his own milk at the table, but we aren’t anywhere near that yet. I got ours at a local thrift store for about a dollar, but I like this one from Ikea too.

4. Bowls – The best bowls we have found for LL to use are condiment bowls. You can find them in lots of shapes and sizes. We actually had several sets already, so this is what we use. We have some similar to these from Target that are shallow and we use these for things that he eats with his hands (ground turkey, dry cereal, etc.). I also bought a couple deeper bowls (steeper sides) for use with foods that require a spoon. The sides make it easier to scoop food out. I bought ours at World Market for $1.99 each (not available online), but they are similar to these.

5. Silverware – This was by far the hardest thing to locate. I don’t like the ones that are easily available in the stores, because it seems like the fork and spoon are just too wide for LL’s mouth (they are almost adult sized, just shorter). I did some research, and discovered that appetizer flatware is the perfect size for little mouths. Our local World Market has loose pieces, so I was able to buy two spoons and two forks rather than having to buy the entire set. They have a few different style options available. We went with this style.  Several moms on the boards recommended the Pottery Barn Kids and Ikea silverware, but I haven’t used them myself so I can’t give a personal review. Both of these sets look to me like they may also be too wide for little mouths, but I can’t be sure.

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I was pleasantly surprised at how few dishes we really needed to purchase for our little man. I love watching him learn to be careful with our real dishes, and I think the tiny spoons and forks look so much more appealing!