No discussion of 21st century grandparenting is complete without mention, however over-mentioned, of the changes in baby accoutrement technology since our day. Everything is different from throw away diapers which seem to have a secret pouch somewhere to trap the rosewater so the child seems dry for hours . . to high tech space age baby transport shuttles approved by NASA and installed by men in white suits at the auto factory. What did we know? We were sent home from the prestigious Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC with the baby in a blue cardboard box which we used until Billy could sit on our laps while we drove the car. He liked pretend driving.
Another miraculous invention from this Professional Parent Generation is the “sippy cup.” It is plastic cup with a tight fitting lid and a three hole spout. No matter how upside down the cup gets, nothing ever spills out of those holes. Only the baby can get the liquid out with some magic sucking action. Amazing. They come in many styles from the generic light colored plain see-through plastic to two handle upscale decorated designer models.
We were recently traveling back to NJ to stay with the Roelke’s for a night bringing Grandchild with us. Pat left an animated message on my answering machine listing all the equipment they had in house for babies so that I should not bother to bring anything. She ended the message with “And I have tons of sippy cups!”
Sippy cups were new to me. We went from bottle or boob to little plastic glasses. The name is stupid and actually misleading. Kids don’t sip from sippy cups, they suck. But I guess ‘sucky cups’ was a potentially dangerous sing song title to hand to little tykes. What goes in sippy cups are only healthy, natural potables, of course. We learned that lesson pretty quickly when chastised by Scott for treating Cadence to her first vanilla Fribble from Friendly’s. Appalled by the fact that we were unaware of the deviant additives in a Fribble milk shake, we were too late to stop the blissful sucking of the delectable potion by the little princess in the back seat. I hasten to add that she has had no ill effects from grandparents’ early episode of “The Stupid Generation Takes Care of the Baby. Part One.”
So it’s official. We are simply sappy sippy cup carrying grandparents of the 21st century! Who will hopefully get with the program before the next one arrives! In the meantime someone of our age has suggested that our generation can make great use of sippy cups for evening martinis. No more spilling while reaching across our laps for another fistful of peanuts.
Sounds good to me.
Love, Carol. Dot.Com
Grandparenting 101
The Bragging Absolution
Identity Verification
And I Have a Ton of Sippy Cups!
Flunking Dog Bath
Wrapping It Up
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