Another Big Accomplishment

I told you that Justin has been drinking out of the Nuby cup for a little while now and he is handling it very well. Our only problem has been the biting. He nibbled it so much that the valve is destroyed. He takes great care to put his cup back in the cup holder on his tray, but when it is almost empty it tips very easily and without the valve it spills everywhere. I had looked to getting some replacement valves but you can only order them on line and it is nearly equivalent in price to buy new cups (since we only have 2). So yesterday after breakfast when I was cleaning up I noticed that there was no more denying it, I needed to take some action:









He bit it nearly clean through. So I bought a new cup to replace the one and then I was hoping maybe he would improve and we could get some new ones that he wouldn't eat. So this morning I gave him the new cup and the valve was so new that he couldn't seem to get any drink out of it. He had it tipped over as far as it would go and nothing was happening. So I got him one of the disposable cups with the spout. It requires some sucking, which is our problem with Justin. But he seems to have been doing a little sucking with the other cup, so we thought we would try. The first few tries he couldn't get anything. He shook it upside down to see if anything would come out and then he would try to drink again. When he tipped it up I stroked his throat to try to get him to feel the sensation and suck, and after a few minutes it worked! He drank the whole thing down with no problem! He did some chewing, which I expected, but it would take a lot for him to cause the same gushing action as in the Nuby cup. Plus these are cheap, so when he destroys one, we can move on to another one. And I think now that he has the idea we can try other cups and he should get the hang of it much quicker. We were encouraged to get him to suck (like out of a straw) but the way he tips his cup is going to make that tough. He likes controlling his drinking, so going back to us holding something for him to suck (so he doesn't pour it all over himself) might take some more effort. I think we are going to let this sink in a while (maybe a month?) and then we can try something new. But this was a HUGE step for him and us. I gave him a drink in the car and he wasn't soaked through when we arrived at therapy. That means we might be able to forgo the bib when he eats non-messy meals because the drinks won't be spilling so much. He doesn't like the bib so I am very thankful for this small step in moving past it.