Toddler Thursday: Transitions, transitions
Hi, folks, it's Sarah K.K., back with another installment of Toddler Thursday.
We got a little surprise at day care this week when we learned that our son, Isaac, will be moving into the Twos class on Monday.
We knew this day was coming -- he turns 2 next month -- but there are a lot of classroom transitions going on right now, and we'd originally been told he was going to move with his teachers into a new toddler room.
But him moving into the Twos is fine. He has spent a fair amount of time there on and off the past few weeks, and he's comfortable there. But, my husband told me, there were a few rules in the Twos that we needed to keep in mind:
1) No pacis. No problem, as he'd stopped using one at school months ago. (He just uses it for night time at home now.)
2) Naps are on cots, not in the crib. Also not a problem, since he started sleeping on a cot in his own classroom a few months ago.
3) No sippy cups. This was the one that made me, well, gulp.
The few times he tried a regular cup at school, it was a mess, and he came home in his spare outfit after dumping water or milk all over himself. We haven't tried much at home. Partly this is because we were delayed in making the sippy cup transition in the first place -- Isaac has to take this liquid medicine every day, and for a long time, the only way to make sure he had it was to give it to him in a morning bottle. But we made the switch to sippies back in October.
That still seems new, so we haven't been pushing the regular cup much, or really even trying. It would have been really handy to know this was coming so we could have been working on it at home for a while. But these things happen, right?
But does anyone have any suggestions on the whole sippy-to-regular transition? It's funny because I'm basically otherwise unconcerned about Isaac moving into a new classroom, but this has thrown me for a bit of a loop.
(Sippy cup photo by me)
Comments
Wow, that's a tough one. If you're not worried about him giving up the sippy at home yet, I say let the daycare folks deal with his transition at school. That way they clean up all the early spills and by the time he's got it down you can switch at home!
SKK: That might be the best plan, actually. He's surely not going to pick it up this weekend, while we're traveling! I'll just pack more extra clothes than usual for his cubby at school.
Posted by: Betsy | May 20, 2010 11:59 AM
Our toddler moved up to the two-year old class in April. We still use sippies at home while they use cups in his class. I need to protect my furniture and carpet a little longer, while they have plastic chairs and tile floors for easy clean-up. I actually agree with Betsy that your child can learn in school and then you can transition him to cups at home when you think he's ready!
Posted by: MadCow | May 20, 2010 2:00 PM
I suggest just filling the cup 1/3 or 1/2 full until he can get used to having something without a lid. Granted, you are going to have some spills, but how else will he learn?
Posted by: Suzie Q | May 20, 2010 4:09 PM
We had the same issue. Our son was very stubborn and didn't want to use the regular cup. We asked him to first take a sip from a regular cup at home before giving him his sippy. That turned into 2 sips. Then three. And it took a little while with a few spills but he got the hang of it.
Posted by: rob | May 20, 2010 4:19 PM
I give my 2 year old a small cup and I don't fill it very much. He loves to drink out of them. I only give them when he's at his high-chair or booster to contain the spills. He's been drinking out of cups for a while, but still mostly drinks his fluids from a sippy.
Get him a fun cup. We have Elmo ones and Peter Rabbit. I even give him my travel mug from college and let him drink from "Mommy's cup". He thinks it's special. Good luck!!
Posted by: Nicole Atkinson | May 27, 2010 5:14 PM