Sippy Cup Stand Off

Transitions. One of the most exciting, frustrating, thrilling, maddening, and fun to watch things in the life of a parent. There are soooo many when they are very little. Just when you think you are getting the hang of feeding the baby every 3 hours, it is time to drop a feeding. Just when your routine of 3 naps a day and bedtime at 8:00 is getting to be the norm, baby decides to drop and nap and move bedtime earlier. Rolling to crawling to walking, starting solids, and of course POTTY TRAINING. (Can't wait to go through this one again.... note the sarcasm).

I have heard of children who do these things over night, in a snap, with no problem, you get the point. My children have been a mix bag. Some transitions have been very easy, some we have struggled through to the end, and some we are still working on to this day (even with the 7 year old).

While you are in the midst of a transition, it seems like it will never end. I remember when Luke was a baby and he was transitioning from baby food to table food. I thought it would never happen. He had such a sensitive gag reflex that table food choked him and up everything came. But here we are and I don't have to spoon feed him. He can eat a piece of pizza with the best of them! Once I make it over the hurdle, my mind automatically dumps all the info that went into getting whatever child it was to the place he or she was going. Almost as if when I take that final sigh of relief that we made it, all the frustration and craziness escapes me. Kind of nice.

Hannah has been transitioning from bottle to sippy cup. What info I retained from this transition with Luke and Hayley was the following:

1. When Luke would not take the sippy cup I originally bought, I proceeded to Target and bought approximately 127 different cups for him to try (straw cup, soft spout, hard spout, cup with handles, insulated cup, cup without handles......) IT WAS MADNESS. So I bought a few kinds of cups (one straw cup, one hard spout with handles, and one soft spout) to see which one she would like out of the three. Three is much easier to store in your cabinet than 127.

2. Hayley NEVER took a bottle and I think it made the transition easier with her. No more Mommy milk, so I guess I have to drink from this cup right here. Easy as pie.

Hannah LOVED her bottle. She always has from the day she first took one. I was trying the "weaning" method with a bottle at breakfast and a cup the rest of the day. She basically just tossed the cup to the floor and only drank the bottle of milk in the morning. The sippy cup strike began. And so did the tears and constipation. FUN!

I decided to go cold turkey, no more bottle last Thursday. We endured a lot of crying, throwing cups, screaming and pretty yucky days, but I am happy to say that we are now more than thrilled with the cup.

Another transition success. I am SO looking forward to potty training! (HA)