100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 50: Pouring Practice

Sometimes, as a parent, you just make stuff up. It might not be true, but it sounds true. I think a child will have just as much difficulty learning to pour at age 2 as he will at age 3 and maybe even 4. So, why not start early? At some point, Oliver will need to learn to pour. I figure it will be just as messy next year as it will be this year. Of course, maybe I'm wrong, but I decided to let Oliver learn.

This has resulted in quite a few messes. Oliver likes to pour the milk into his cereal on cereal mornings, and he does a surprisingly good job. However, the initial dump into the bowl always ends up with some (or a lot) outside of the bowl.

I decided to come up with a way for Oliver to have some pouring *practice.* Of course, the best thing to practice with is water! We don't have a kettle, which might be too heavy anyway, and we don't have a tea pot, but we do have a netty pot. It's plastic and lightweight, so I chose that for Oliver's pouring escapades. I made sure it was clean, filled it with water, and then handed it to Oliver, along with a second cup for him to pour into.

Oliver caught right on! He enjoyed pouring and sipping and dumping the water for about 15 minutes, which is a good length of time for him. After a while, he started pouring the cup of water into the bathroom sink and asking me for, "More." Well, whatever works!

Here are some shots of Oliver as he plays, "Pouring Practice:"

It's off subject, but please don't mind the nasty carpet. It is pretty bad, but we're waiting to replace it until after our daughter is born and potty trained. I decided there's no reason to replace them now if she's going to poop on them later. So, two years from now, these gross carpets will be a thing of the past.

Back to "Pouring Practice!" I really liked this activity, and, because of my old, dingy carpet, I definitely didn't mind them getting spilled on. I dabbed it up a bit when he was done, but other than that, I didn't worry about it. So, "Pouring Practice" was good for Oliver's development, fun for him, free to play, and easy (for me) to clean up. As an added bonus, my heart melted a little bit when Oliver grabbed a towel to clean up a spill. "Pouring Practice" gets an A grade!