Movin' on up

Donovan has recently taken to trying to grab at most things around him, including anything I'm holding while I am holding him. He decided to show off this new skill last week, when Cristina had him on her lap and was taking a drink from her Coke Light bottle and he reached out to grab it and try to take a sip, too. A couple days ago I was getting myself a glass of water while I was holding him in my arms and he went to grab for the glass. At first I moved it away from him, but then remembered the tidbits I'd come across recently about how many babies are able to start drinking out of a regular cup starting at about this age, so I figured, well, why not?

So I sat him down on my lap and grabbed an absorbent burp rag and whaddayaknow, D was totally into it! I couldn't tell how much water he was actually getting into his mouth, but I held the glass so he had a bit of water up at his lips and he was lapping at it eagerly with his tongue (and none of it was spilling, miraculously) and every time I pulled the glass away from him he'd reach out and bring it back towards his mouth.

I then pulled out one of the sippy cups I bought him a while back cut haven't done much with, and at first he was kinda just playing with it and every time he got a mouthful of water he'd then spit it back out. But after 5-10 minutes he kinda seemed to get the hang of it and started sucking/drinking at the spout. When we were done there was 1-2 oz less water in the cup, and only a little spilled onto his shirt, so I assumed he'd drank the rest. Success!

I tried it again today and he seemed pretty into it again, grabbing the cup and putting the spout eagerly to his mouth and seeming to take in about an ounce (and possibly would drink more, if I took the time with him but I don't want him to get too filled up on water in one sitting). The next step will be to try this with some breastmilk in the cup and see how he reacts to that. If he's willing to drink decent amounts of milk from the sippy cup, well then I might just get some of my freedom back. Which would be pretty sweet.

Part of me is tempted to introduce him to juice, too, but I don't know if I'm quite ready for that. I'd dilute it quite a lot, probably, but I still worry that he might get spoiled by the sweetness and besides I probably should get him started on solids and with a few different kinds before giving him juice, right? Though it's something to add to the questions list for our check-up tomorrow.