We’ve been transitioning Jackson away from bottles and toward sippy cups. One reason is because our pediatrician told us that babies are more likely to form cavities when using a bottle for too long. Also, selfishly, I’m tired of washing and steaming all the parts on each bottle so I am certainly ready for the switch.
From the outside looking in, it seems trivial to switch from a bottle to a sippy cup. But that was not the case!
When seeing the world through Jackson’s point of view, it makes sense why it didn’t happen over night. This change is big for him – it is the first time he is encountering these new drinking devices, which work very differently from the bottles he has been using since birth.
Here’s how the transition went:
- Bottle –> stainless steel cup
Our first attempt was to try a stainless baby sized stainless steel cup that didn’t have a lid on it. This came from a LoveEvery kit for 6-9 month olds so we thought it would be appropriate.
It was a disaster to say the least.
Jackson wasn’t coordinated enough to hold the cup and didn’t have a concept of up from down…meaning that the liquid never stayed inside the cup. And even when we held the cup up to his mouth, he couldn’t grasp the motion of drinking from it.
The end result was zero liquid got in his mouth and all of it ended up on his clothes or on the ground!
2. Stainless steel cup —> sippy cup with a flap
From there, we tried a sippy cup with a lid, handle, and a pressure activated flap. It was spill-proof but also required Jackson to suck from a flap (that would release water when there was pressure applied).
To start, he had no idea what to do with this sippy cup. He’d chew on the handle, repeatedly slam it on the table, or hold it upside down and use it to mash his food.
Once the novelty wore off and he realized there was something to drink inside, he still couldn’t figure out the new form (sucking from the flap vs. a nipple). After putting it up to his mouth, demonstrating the drinking motion, and repeating the process, he did finally suck from the flap and got water / milk out. But, he then could not connect the dots on swallowing what was in his mouth. Either, he would spit out big mouthfuls or choke and spray liquid everywhere.
Again, very little water got into his mouth and a lot got on his clothes or on us!
After multiple days of multiple outfit changes, we realized he wasn’t ready for that sippy cup yet. Even though it was labeled for 6 months and older, it didn’t work for Jackson at the time.
Sippy cup with a flap —> sippy cup with a modified nipple
We changed forms again and went with a different sippy cup with a modified nipple. Our hypothesis was that the nipple would be more familiar with the bottles he was used to drinking from.
This was a clear victory and Jackson figured out how to drink from it pretty quickly!
The problem was that it still used a nipple. Also, once he did figure it out, he started playing with / pulling the nipple, resulting in leaks and spills as he carried this sippy cup around the house.
Sippy cup with a modified nipple —> (back to) sippy cup with a flap
After letting him get used to the sippy cup with a modified nipple, we went back to the sippy cup with the flap. Same thing – first day, he didn’t know how to suck from it. But on day two, he connected it all together.
And just like that (and by that, I mean multiple weeks of practice), he can get the water into his mouth and swallow it too…without spitting it out, choking, or any leaks!
Lesson learned
Watching Jackson struggle reminded me that often, it takes a while before something new “clicks”. And often, it doesn’t happen on the first or second attempt. And that is okay!
And this lesson relates to bitcoin too!
“Getting” bitcoin
My observation is that on first contact, 99% of people won’t get it. And that is okay (and to be expected)!
Most likely, first contact comes from an article headline about how much the price. Maybe it is about how much the price has gone up (which makes most people think “bubble that is about to pop”) or how much the price has gone down (which makes most people think “it’s going to zero”). Or they might have heard about it from a friend or co-worker who didn’t do a great job explaining bitcoin (which makes most people think, “it’s a cult” or “it’s a ponzi scheme”).
I understand that skepticism. When I first came across bitcoin, I also thought it was magic internet money. And through my journey to understand it, I’ve gone through all those thoughts about it being a scam, bubble, that it’s about to die, or that people who are into bitcoin are part of a cult or about to be rug pulled in a giant ponzi scheme.
(side note: this is a great article by Croesus helping articulate why yuppies struggle understanding bitcoin)
However, in the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a lot more people start to have their own “ah ha” moment with bitcoin.
Maybe it is because of the Canadian trucker protest and the response from government to seize / freeze bank accounts for anyone involved…without due process.
This led people to see how important it is to have a form of money that cannot be confiscated. And that is bitcoin!
Or maybe it’s the images of the long lines of people desperately trying to take money out of ATM’s throughout Ukraine, knowing that they needed to flee the country due to Russia invading.
This led people to to realize that with bitcoin, you don’t have to stand in line at the ATM because you can just load your bitcoin onto a hardware wallet, or memorize 12-24 words that serve as your password, or even to store your bitcoin on a wallet app on your phone. And since bitcoin isn’t physical, it’s much easier to transport when you need to leave in a hurry compared to carrying a big stack of cash or a bar of gold.
Or maybe it was the massive devaluation of the Russian ruble currency, which dropped almost 30% overnight, and in the process, reduced the life savings of the average Russian citizen by 30%.
This devaluation led people to realize that through no fault of their own, government actions can wipe out a significant portion of their life savings. It shined a light how governments don’t always have your best interests at heart. But with bitcoin, since it doesn’t care about countries or borders or governments, your life savings are not directly impacted from those actions, whether it be going to war, printing money, being sanctioned, etc.
Either way, what I’ve noticed is that more and more people are starting to see the value of bitcoin as a new form of money that cannot be corrupted or confiscated.
In my previous article, I included a tweet from DHH, a fierce bitcoin critic, who recently had his own “ah ha” moment. Here he is talking more about how and why his worldview changed:
Just like Jackson didn’t figure out his sippy cup overnight, MOST people don’t “get” bitcoin overnight. But with repeated exposure, it’s inevitable that they’ll have their “ah ha” moment with it.
It seems like, lately, that is happening faster. And that is good for bitcoin!