One of the hardest things for me to do as a mother is to watch my son grow up. While it is cool and fun to see him learn and develop, there's always this little sad peep in the back of my head because I want him to be my baby for ever. I try to focus on the positive, though! For instance, when he was super tiny - I could not wait for him to be able to hold his own bottle!! Don't get me wrong--I loved our special cuddle time when he needed to be fed! And I was happy to do it! But sometimes it was a little frustrating because there were things that needed to be done, and I wished I could just give him his bottle and put him in the boppy so I could finish my housework.

Fast-forward to a couple of months ago.

I got thinking, "You know....he can't drink out of a bottle forever. He needs to start getting used to sippy cups and straws and regular drinking cups..." So I went to the store that same day and bought him a few different types of "big boy" cups. Some were sippy cups with different types of spouts and then I bought one or two with silicone straws. I knew it would be a while before he would be able to use the straw ones, but I decided there was no harm in giving one to him now and then to let him practice and get used to it. Actually, I let him try it out that night. He didn't quite know what to do with it so after ten minutes or so, I poured the formula in a bottle and gave it to him. The next morning I let him try the straw again after he had his cereal. Guess what? He did GREAT! Second try and he nailed it!!

He still tries to tip it back sometimes...

I'm so proud of my smart boy!! But I'm also sad because that means he has taken another step out of "baby" and into "big boy"...  I'm not sure how I feel about that...

[Photos in this post are from 8/28/10]