Baby Sports Bottle

A couple of months ago Miss Lucy brought us a honey bear drinking cup that she made for Justin. I think they sell them through various therapy supply web sites, but Miss Lucy was always great at getting things for us other ways. She made this cup from a bottle of honey shaped like a bear and some tubing from a hardware store. It is supposed to help Justin learn to drink from a straw, which strengthens the muscles for talking. It especially helps with the "O" sound. (Makes sense!) Well, Justin didn't like it very much, so I put it away and used the other cups we had. I decided to try it again this week because Justin seemed to be trying to suck his vitamins out of the syringe. I was pleasantly surprised that Justin did so well! He doesn't even dribble very much, although he still spits sometimes. Until he learns how to suck the water out, we can squeeze the bear to get the water in his mouth, just like a sports bottle. Travis thinks this is beyond cool, and he says that when Justin grows up they can trade cups and Justin can have his cups, and Justin can have Travis'.

You can see in the pictures that already Justin is forming the "o" shape with his mouth, although he isn't sucking yet. Also, we left the top on the bottle so we can pull the tubing/straw out and close it for when we need to pack food to go out. I really would like for Justin to try to lift the cup himself. As you can see, he is perfectly content allowing us to lift and hold the cup for him to drink.