Attack of the Sippy Cups

Since last week involved the unveiling of some heavier subject matter, I figured this week I would keep it light and as always “intelligent” around here. That’s why I need to address a pressing matter, something that has been weighing heavily on my mind. After being bombarded with bright bursts of color, I have gone crossed eyed from… all of the sippy cups we have accumulated around here! I mean we are about to start getting rid of the bottles but geez I feel like all of a sudden I turned around after letting my attention slip for one second and WHAM there they were, a million different aerodynamic liquid dispensing devises. As I recall growing up there was one standard issue sippy cup, you know the one with the snap on lid that had the holes in it that would inevitably get warped after 3 washes in the dishwasher? Yeah well apparently in our overly thought out world there is no longer a “simple” sippy cup. There seems to be a sippy cup for every kind of mood you are in. 

Our massive accumulation of colorful cups began before Emma was even born. While out on one of many pre-baby preparatory shopping trips I stumbled upon a big bargain bin of cups from which you sip. This was a most excellent find. They were on sale for a dollar each, so naturally I grabbed a bunch thinking that it would be forever until we used them. They were fairly simple, just the cup and nozzle. I was glad to have them on hand when Emma's daycare told me she had crawled over and grabbed one from a classmate so she would be needing one of her own. I was excited to work with her to try something new. Then from there we had a sudden explosion of cups. We got several as gifts and then being a "resourceful mom" I decided we needed varying options. Enter in straws, handles, different lids, and new sizes. Google had backfired once again when I realized that I had read so many different articles on which cup to give at what developmental stage that I couldn’t remember if handles or straws were forbidden or the new clinical study standard. So, I have given my child everything and discovered that she seems to be competent when it comes to operating each one. Thank God I have birthed a competent cup operator. Hopefully if I give her a different cup every time she will eventually unregress herself from the previous cup which could have been an evil regressing cup that I mistakenly introduced because I'm as confused as ever.

Basically I am trying to weave my way through each new study, like each cup, to figure out what works best for my child. I guess it’s the closet neurotic in me that needs to make sure something as simple as a cup does not interfere with my child’s development. So far we seem to be still raising a healthy child so I guess all is well. So the point to all of this is... I'm not sure. Out of all of this I can tell you two things: 1. We have up until this point only lost one cup to the destructive wrath of the dogs. 2. In all honesty I am liking our Nemo straw cup the best. 

Make sense? Is your head spinning within the groovy cup colored tapestry? Have no fear I’m sure there will be 100 more options by the time your tot comes around to this stage. If you are currently in the trenches with me or have gone down this confusing road before I would love to hear from you. What cups worked best for you? What cups lasted through toddler hood? Let me know in the comments!