So far on this diet, I’m doing… ok. I’m managing. I mean, I haven’t cheated at all, but I feel like crap on a stick. I’m basically trying to re-train my brain to break some of the bad habits that I’ve gotten myself into. And it’s hard, because my brain is still trying to tell me, “no no, after breakfast, you need that oatmeal cookie.” And of course I don’t need it, so I don’t eat one. But that leaves me with the craving, which sucks. So until my brain gets out of these bad habits, I’m just feeling sort of scattered and very, very crabby. And a little weepy. Is this what it’s like when people quit smoking? Because it sort of feels like I’m trying to fix an addiction here. And I don’t even have Dr. Drew to pat me on the shoulder and tell me I’m doing a good job. (Hmmm, Dr. Drew and an oatmeal cookie, now that is something I could really go for right now… But I digress.)

Since I’m already grouchy and miserable, I decided to go ahead and take on another challenge that’s been annoying me for a while. Catie is off the bottle completely, and has been since she was about 15 months old. She is an all-sippy-cup, all-the-time kind of girl, and that’s honestly fine with me. Yes, I realize that she will soon be two years old, and I should be teaching her how to drink from a regular cup, but I’m procrastinating about that because I know it’s going to involve a lot of clean-up. And I’m lazy. She can drink from a cup with a straw, but she prefers the sippy.

The problem? She expects me to hold the sippy cup for her. She absolutely knows how to do it herself, she does it all the time when I’m not around, or say, when she’s in her car seat and I’m driving. I think she wants me to hold it because it’s her way of making sure she has my undivided attention. And you know, she already has my attention pretty much every waking minute of the day. As it stands now, every time the kiddo is thirsty, she expects me to stop what I’m doing and hold her sippy cup for her. I don’t mind doing it when she first wakes up, or before bedtime, because that’s our quiet snuggle time. But for every beverage requirement (approximately once an hour) all day long? No. Enough is enough.

So since yesterday, when she asks for her juice, I’ve been handing her the cup instead of holding it for her. She screams and throws the cup at me, and I ignore her and go about my business while she throws herself on the floor howling about what a horrible mommy I am. After a few minutes, she relents, picks up the cup and takes a drink all by herself. At which point I applaud, tell her what a big girl she is, give her a hug and a kiss on the head, and basically praise her like crazy for doing something she’s been able to do for the past year. Eh, whatever works, right?

After this, I might start working on teaching her how to drink from a regular cup. But I’m not looking forward to that at all. Can’t she learn how to do that in preschool or something?