Magic Cup!

Last night started my No-More-Bottles Campaign! Jackson made the switch to whole cow's milk so easily that I thought it would be a good time to switch over to cups too! Well, he wasn't too happy about that. I've let the bottles go on for a month and am ready to be all finished! The bottle drying rack is in the dishwasher as I type and the last couple bottles are all clean and put away. I'm hoping this works! I had two problems. First, Jackson is so used to having a bottle before naps and bed. He didn't always drink a whole lot, but it was just part of our routine. I figure it's time he figures out how to soothe himself another way. The second problem is connected to the first in that the bottle was a comfort item.

Luckily, Mimi bought Jackson a Cookie Monster cup with a straw when we were in Evanston last. I think she bought it because it was cute and a really good deal. Little did she know how big of a hit it would be! This was a little over a month ago and Jackson really wasn't that big of a fan of sippy cups. I was still working on it, but frustrated that it wasn't going faster. I brought the Cookie cup to dinner the first night and he started sipping right away! He still loves it! While he will drink out of some other straw sippies I've found, he really likes this one!

So, last night I just decided to take the cup upstairs instead of a bottle. We read a couple of books, then I sat with him on my lap and handed him his sippy. He seemed so excited to have it upstairs! He had a few sips, pushed it away, and went to sleep without a peep! Easy, right? Not quite. I committed myself to this process knowing that it would be over after a couple of rough days. For both naps I had to resort to letting him cry it out. I let him have his cup before I laid him down, but then no more. I used to give him more of the bottle each time I went in to comfort him when he cried. It didn't help that he was super tired for each nap, so nothing I was doing in the comforting and soothing department was helping anyway. Actually, I like that better. When I have tried rocking, holding, reading, and milk and nothing works, I can let him cry it out with a much lighter heart. It is hard to do by myself though! Thankfully, James is a very solid sleeper...in the next room...

The other magic part of this cup was all of the walking Jackson did while drinking out of it last night! Josh brought him downstairs after getting his pjs on and gave him his cup. He stood with his cup and while sipping started walking across the room! He paused a few times and reached for Josh to make sure he was still there, but it was definitely the longest distance he has walked in one go so far! He also initiated it all on his own! He's pretty good about walking to one of us, but we are getting excited to see him start walking for his own purpose!