Mama, I'm a big girl now!

This was my challenge, to learn to drink from a sippy cup. My mommy has been encouraging me for several weeks now, but I was not grasping the concept that I had to suck in order to obtain the liquid inside. I have also been challenged by straws. I see my mommy, daddy, Lauren and Mark drinking fun and exciting beverages from staws I want to do that too, but when a straw is placed to my mouth I don't understand why it does not automatically flow like it seems to for other members of my family. This results in my expressing frustration VERY loudly in a shrill and quite unpleasant manner.

The other day when mommy was emptying the dishwasher, and I was helping of course, she noticed that one of the sippy cup lids was missing its valve. For those of you not familiar with sippy cups, the valve is what keeps the liquid from spilling out of the cup. Mommy had an idea. She put water in an empty cup and placed the lid without the valve on it. She then placed the cup to my mouth. WOW, liquid comes of of this cup. I was quite surprised. Mommy allowed me to drink like this for about a minute, then she put the lid with the valve on the cup. Once I understood that I could obtain liquid from the cup, I vigorously began to suck, and considered myself to be quite important, because I had mastered the sippy cup. Since then I DEMAND a sippy cup first thing in the morning and "nurse" it all day long.

Look how proud I am!

As an added bonus, mastery of the sippy cup helped me to understand the concept of the straw. No more loud, shrill sounds of frustration for me on this issue.....

-Katie