It seemed like a good idea.
Jude appeared to be capable of moving up from a sippy cup to a regular cup. And when we finished making our peanut butter cookies on Thanksgiving morning, I figured it was time to give it a try when he wanted some milk to wash down the peanut buttery goodness that emerged from the oven.
Just in case a spill was in our future, I only filled the cup about a third of the way up. Jude wanted to take his drink at the “Elmo desk” — a toddler-sized seat that he uses for snacks, coloring and Play-doh.
He picked up the cup and took a drink — no problems. Yeah, he could do it just fine.
About 15 minutes later, I put the cup of milk on the kitchen counter to avoid any mishaps when his little 1-year-old brother, Jasper, got up from his nap.
While watching a basketball game on TV, I heard Jude mumble something in the distance about his milk. A few minutes later, I noticed he had a milk mustache. He had reached up on the counter, grabbed the cup and took a drink without spilling. Wow.
Probably 30 minutes later, Jasper called out from the crib to announce that naptime was over. While I continued watching the basketball game, the boys played on the living room floor. You know how it goes … the 1-year-old did his best to disrupt any play scenario that the 3-year-old had going on and in return, the 3-year-old announced “mine” over and over which usually was followed by a baby scream.
The basketball game was winding down to late in the second half and it was close. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jasper quickly heading toward the Elmo desk. He’s developed an unfortunate habit of climbing up into the desk and then standing up, which of course creates visions in my mind of him crashing to the floor and breaking an arm or cracking open his skull. So, I rushed over to make sure he wasn’t embarking upon one of his daredevil acts.
Instead, I saw him standing in front of the desk reaching for that plastic milk cup that I had given Jude earlier. What was it doing back on the Elmo desk? Ah, Jude must’ve put in there after removing it from the kitchen counter and taking a drink.
What happened next appeared to me in slow motion a half-second before I could reach him. Jasper thought it would be a good idea to pick up that cup and shake it. I spent the next 5 minutes cleaning up milk from the floor, wall, Elmo desk and Jasper himself while the basketball game wrapped up on TV on the other side of the living room. It sure seemed like a lot of milk for the cup being less than a third full.
What’s the old proverb? “Don’t cry over spilled milk.”
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News and spends what little free time he has with his wife and two young sons. Do you have a fun story to share about your kids or grandkids? Email it to news@philomathnews.com and it just might end up in a future post).