Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

After a couple of mishaps, we've made a rule that there is to be only water-containing sippy cups in the living room. These things get left behind, kicked under the couch, dropped in the toy box. . . . It's quite gross when Jonathan grabs one up and starts drinking, but at least now he won't be drinking mold. Still, as an additional safety measure, Chris decided to teach him to differentiate the good sippy cups from the bad. We started leaving the dinnertime sippy on the coffee table overnight. Jonathan runs downstairs in the morning and used to go right to the sippy. But Chris was patient with him, saying "No, that's old. Yucky! Give it here and I'll get you some fresh water."

Jonathan now has the concept of "old water" down very well. Too well, in fact. It was great when he would find a discarded sippy and bring it to us, saying "old water byebye!" But now, every time he puts the cup down for fifteen seconds, it becomes "old water" and he wants fresh. There can still be condensation forming on the sides of the fresh-from-the-fridge cup of water, but if it's left his hand, it's old and he wants nothing to do with it. How can a kid whose idea of a great time is to drink from puddles in the driveway be so picky about his sippy cup?

In other water related news, Jonathan was fascinated to watch me put water in the vase of the lovely pink and white roses Chris gave me for my birthday. He commented on the whole process, noting that I used the pink cup, and that the water was all gone. He even offered some of his juice to the flowers! A day or two later, the water level was once again low. We were eating dinner together at the table when he pointed to the vase and asked me "Flowers eat water?"