Beyond the Sippie Cup

Lily has been using a traditional sippie cup for quite some time now.  

I've also known for quite some time now that she needs to start using a regular cup.

But since I spend a large part of my life trying to avoid unnecessary messes, I've been dragging my feet on this one.

 But it's time. 

Thanks to a sweet church member blessing us with a gift card, we had lunch at Saltgrass Steakhouse last week.

And Bird was only too happy to show off her cup skills.

Making sure that Dad is watching.

Feeling quite proud of herself.

Good to the last drop.

She thought she was such hot stuff.

So yeah.  I'm thinking it's probably time to loosen the reins just a bit and buy a few extra rolls of Bounty. 

At home, cleaning up spilled cups of juice won't be that big of a deal.  

But at school, cleaning up spills several times a day is going to get old pretty quick.

So I'm thinking of getting a couple of these awesome cups for Bird to use at school and church:

They're called Reflo Smart Cups and I think they're pretty genius.  It's a regular cup but with that snazzy little insert that just controls the flow so if the cup spills, it's not an instant gusher.  Click here to read more and watch a video about the Reflo cup.

Another good option is the Tervis tumbler that you see all over the place now.  We have a couple of the slightly smaller kid size cups like this:

And we use these travel lids that have an open/close slider for drinking...

as well as these thick, flexible straws:

It's funny how I can remember wondering if Lily Bird would ever learn to use a straw.  Or if she would ever be able to drink from a good old-fashioned cup without always pouring it all over herself.

And now that day has come.

It's the little things - little things, that in the life of a special needs parent, are actually big things.  

Can I get an amen?

Have a lovely weekend, my dear readers, and I'll see you Tuesday.