Dear Santa

Since you are magic and can do anything, the following is what I'd like for Christmas.
WARNING: This is gonna be a toughie.
1. For Josie to embrace her sippy cup. Or at least, for your elves to invent one that she actually likes.
Sure, she enjoys them in so much as they are liquid-filled missiles. But to drink out of, not so much. Girl likes her bottle. What can I say? She get it from her mama.
I've heard from several mommy mentors that often it takes several different kinds before the "right one" is found. But dang, yo! That gets expensive. Do I really have to invest $80 dollars in sippy cups? Or does the trial of various kinds just pass enough time for her to warm up to the idea in general?
Help a good girl out. I can't keep calling her sippy cup "ba-ba" and thinking I'm gonna fool her.
2. For Josie to embrace milk. Or at least, for your elves to find a cow that makes milk Josie will drink.
Man, when Josie finally decided she liked formula, she committed. She's tolerating the half and half bottles (half formula/half whole milk), but she's flat out rejecting the just milk bottles. Even when we warm the milk. Short of dunking some Oreos in there, how else can I get her to make the switch? Haven't I been nice?
That's all. You made Artie on Glee walk. This should be doable, too.
I'm counting on you, Santa.

Ain't no thing

As we prepare to move two states away, start new jobs and find new routines, we're also preparing to wean Josie now from bottles to sippy cups and from formula to whole milk. Great timing, no?

Most docs/officials/smart people recommend switching baby to whole milk at a year old, and we hope to do that. But we may delay the big switch for a few weeks depending on how quickly Josie adapts to her new home and schedule. 

Josie has done so well with all the other transitions we've asked her to make. Still, this is the first time we've asked her to make such big ones so close together. I don't want to yank the bottle out from under her, so to speak.

As usual, the rationale side of me knows this will be difficult at first but still harder for me than for Josie. And the worry side of me is saying "Ah! Ah! Ah!"

The rationale side will win, and the worry side will remember this:

Out of sheer curiosity on Saturday, I let Josie try milk. 

Did she like it? Dunno. She didn't not like it. 

I poured the milk in a sippy cup because I don't want Josie associating her new beverage-of-choice with bottles since that would defeat the weaning goal. And I didn't heat it up because I want her to take milk straight from the refrigerator. 

When we weaned her from breast to formula bottle, we heated her bottles to make the transition easier and more appealing. But now, she expects warm bottles all the time. When the bottles go, I'll be done with the tedious heating routine.

Any way, Josie took a few sips of milk. And then a few more. She never broke her concentration on the alphabet magnets she was rearranging on the fridge. She took more sips and carried on carrying on.

Basically, her whole demeanor said, "Ain't no thing."

I am encouraged. Now, if we can only cut down on the number of bottle feedings each day and get her to eat more table food....

Hopefully, by January, I'll be able to look back and say "Ain't no thing."