Drinking from a Glass



A drinking from her glass

I wanted to write a small post about drinking from a glass. In particular I wanted to document our experience so far. The above picture features A, she is our expert drinker. She can and will drink from any cup, glass, bottle and even via a straw. This is her drinking water from her glass at dinner time. She also takes a lot of care when placing her glass on the tray or table top.

 

At 6 months old we started offering A & G drinks from a shot glass, then a series of espresso glasses and progressed to little glass tumblers. Some of the glasses I purchased from stores and others I acquired from various local charity stores.

As soon as A was offered a glass she was able to drink from it. Initially we would hold it for her and over a short span of time (2 weeks) she was flying solo. G on the other hand can drink from a glass, though she is less inclined to do so. She prefers to hold the glass to her month and blow raspberries into the liquid. G is also the child who is most likely to smash a glass. In fact she has been know to smash several in short succession. I believe she does this for a number of reasons,

• in the early days she only wanted her bottle
• she likes the sound
• frustration
• attention

We are not at the stage where I would leave glasses on a snack table for them to use without me near by. I can guarantee without my presence the glass would be smashed, followed by children slipping on the wet tiles and tears. Throughout the day A & G have available to them a bottle of water each to drink from when they are thirsty.

When introducing a glass, I showed both A & G how to drink from the glass. I helped then hold the glass, saying "two hands" and showed then how to bring the glass to their mouth. As mentioned above A quickly picked this up and was very proud of her achievements. Her confidence was further boosted when I learnt to take a step back, stop hovering and allow her the time and space to be independent and successful.

Have we broken glasses? Yes, we have broken many glasses, 5 to 6 glasses in the first two months A & G started drinking from a glass. A broke 2 and G broke the other 4. In between the breakages we have had many near misses. It is now 6 months since our last glass was broken. They will probably break more glasses in the future, but this happens.

I found when we first started to offer a glass for them to drink from I had to be very mindful to provide the glasses at snack and dinner time. Often it is easier to stick to what is working, such as using bottles or sippy cups, before we know time has slipped quietly by and they are walking, talking and ready to take on the world.