Literally. Simon has been interested in drinking from a cup for ages. Unfortunately, he’s much less interested in the age-appropriate Born Free sippy cup filled with milk than he is the red plastic tumbler we use to douse him in the tub. For at least three months, Simon has strained to lift the Maker’s Mark cup to his lips while in the tub. In fact, for the past month or so he’s been more interested in the cup and the bottle of baby shampoo than he has been his bath toys.
Friday was a bath night. Like other bath nights, Simon dipped the cup into the tub and then struggled to lift it to his lips. Unlike other bath nights, Friday night he succeeded. Matt and I heard a gulp followed by a sputter, and then realized to our horror that Simon has just ingested a significant quantity of warm bathwater. Excellent! I bet there was some pee in there, too…
After this incident, I decided to make Simon a deal. I’d allow him to messily drink from an open-top cup on occasion if he’d drink from his sippy cup at least some of the time. Monday and Wednesday, Simon drank from his sippy cup on his own for the sitter. By Thursday and Friday, he’d do so for me and Matt, too. So yesterday, at Highland Coffee Company, Simon joined us at the table, helped himself to bites of a cinnamon scone, and quenched his own thirst from a small, non-spouted plastic cup. No cover, no straw, no handles-a total big-boy cup.
Of course, he was less than perfect with this cup and managed to dribble some water from his chin. As he grew tired and distracted by the table of pretty women across from him, he managed to pour quite a bit down his shirt, too. But he also drank a fair bit and was so proud of himself that he smiled and clapped between drinks. We clapped for him, too.
In honor of this impressive milestone, I’m going to go out and buy a stack of small plastic cups for Simon to use. If he’ll keep up his end of the bargain and use the sippy cup at least some of the time, I’ll let his cup runneth over for the rest.