[megkc03]

So the boys are 4, and Annabella is 2.5. DH is itching to get rid of anything and everything baby related. His current kick is the sippy cups and their plastic divided plates. The boys could be done with all of it. I think the sippy cup(straw cup) is more of a comfort item for Anthony. He will sit and drink his milk from the cup in one breath! They never fool around at the table with their plates, so I don't think that's a big deal to get rid of them-they would move onto glass.

We would keep the cups for long car rides, but they have water bottles for soccer, so they would probably just use those. Annabella I think has a bit more time with the sippy cup. She has quite the tendency to spill. But even still, I think it's more of a comfort item for her as well.

So all that to say-when did you move on to regular cups/dishes, etc?

[MarchI]

We use regular cups and dishes now. We transitioned to open cups in January. One thing we are doing is that we bought dixie bathroom cups that hold 4-6oz and use those for H&J. There are still spills but the cups are more manageable for their little hands.

[DeniseT]

I was wondering this myself. For the last 1-1.5 yrs I rarely if ever used sippies. I just pour a couple inches of milk in their cups and refill if needed. And they weren't allowed to drink anything away from the table. But lately I'm realizing they are just not drinking enough milk. I'm constantly dumping it. But if I put it in a sippy (cup with a lid or a straw cup - not the valve kind) and let them take it in another room, it's almost gone instantly. So I don't know what's more important. Having them be off sippies, or making sure their milk intake is high enough. In the last month I broke down and bought a new pack of take n toss cups with lids. And the milk intake has definitely gone up. I still feel weird about it though, when you see the starting age range on the cups and I think we should be off of them by now. I wondered about maybe replacing them with something like a tervis cup instead. If you don't think the milk intake would be an issue with your boys, then I'm sure you can get rid of the cups now. But it might be an issue with your little girl for a little while yet.

As for the plates, mine could eat on regular now too. But I kind of like the dividers keeping everything separate! Seems like it takes up less space in the dishwasher too. But they're on their last leg and I don't see myself buying new ones, so those will be on their way out too. I also don't know why we still used toddler silverware most of the time. Out of habit, I guess. They do fine with regular. And the toddler spoons are ridiculously small. But they still prefer them. Maybe we'll do a clean out this summer. Hopefully by then we'll know if we're done having kids or not.

[ddancerd1]

we've been using open cups and normal silverware since they turned 3, and i'm now starting to transition to regular plates. i'm ready to dump the toddler plates/bowls which is taking up an entire cabinet. they still use straw sippies when out of the house, along with other water bottles. (i take water with us EVERYWHERE)... the only reason i haven't thrown out the regular sippies yet is cuz i'm having a hard ttime doing it :( especially their tinkerbell ones that they've had forever and loved them like lovies :(

[megkc03]

Denise-the milk intake is definitely decreased when it's out of a regular cup!

Dannielle-yeah, they've been drinking from regular cups for awhile. I've been giving them the sippy cups less and less...just because it's a hassle. But if I don't want to be bothered for a bit-I just give them the sippy cup and that keeps them quiet. Generally it's right after nap time. And like you-it takes up an ENTIRE cabinet with their dishes/cups/bowls/etc! DH wants it GONE!

[Beth*J]

I've been wondering about this as well. My girls were 4 in December. I still let them use sippy cups for the same reason Denise does. They need all the milk they can get and they don't drink much unless I let them take it with them after supper to the living room. They do drink out of regular cups at school and restaurants, etc. They are still using toddler silverware. I'm thinking I could let them use the dessert forks of our regular stuff. It's a pretty heavy set, but they can probably handle it. I'm hesitant to give them our glass plates though. Right now they help clear their own dishes and I think if I switch to our regular plates they will all be broken soon.

[Fran27]

Straw cups are great and I can see them last a long time to be honest. And I love the divider plates! It's very handy when you want to put some dipping sauces and you don't want it to go all over the food.

We ditched sippies about 5 months ago, but we didn't have the straw ones because my kids love chewing straws (and yeah... they're a pain to clean!). We could have done it earlier, but we still deal with spills occasionally. I just got really tired of watching all those parts and they were starting to stinks... Now we use small tumblers (6oz ones I think?).I still use the plastic plates (and divider plates), but I tend to use regular plates for meals (small plates). They still use toddler utensils and will probably use them a long time (they can use adult ones, it's just easier with the kids ones).

[Dielle]

Spencer will be 3 in May. He still eats from a bowl most of the time. I don't have any of those divided plates, but he does need the sides on the dish or he ends up sliding stuff onto the table/floor... not on purpose. But he's drunk from an open cup consistently for 6 months or more. We haven't put a lid on sippies in ages. He still spills occasionally, but I just don't put much in his cup most of the time, to minimize messes. He's not allowed out of the kitchen/dining area with a cup though, because I don't want the mess on the carpet. The good thing is that I don't find sippy cups in weird places anymore with rancid milk/juice.

[rissakaye]

I don't remember when I transitioned the kids, but I thought that I would mention some dishes I have. I have pzaltgraft (sp?) dishes in 2 different patterns. Both of the patterns have matching melamine dishes that I have different pieces of. For my main set (the April pattern), I have melamine in juice cups, salad size plates, and a set of 8 divided plates plus serving platters and a few bowls. We like to eat outside and melamine is a nice compromise between my breakable dishes and paper plates which blow away in Kansas. Melamine is also quite kid-proof and I've used it on kids when they were little and on visiting kids. Since it matches my regular dishes, it doesn't stand out as being "kid" dishes. And we really all use it when we eat out on the back deck.

Marissa

[becasquared]

We have Corelle dishes, so unbreakable glass dishes that were fairly cheap at Target. But the kids still use the Ikea plates and flatware because it helps me with portioning. They've been asking to use "the fancy silverware" lately, so I see the flatware going to work with me.

[cjk2002]

Regular cups around 2 1/2. Around that age they would freak out and want to drink only out of my cup so it was their way of telling me they were done with sippies. I had some left over sippy straw cups and used them every now and then but only for water.

They turned 4 last month and I really can't remember the last time I used divided plates. It was most likely when the rest of them were dirty. :laughing:

I have even begun using my regular dinnerware for their meals and they get a big kick out of it but most days they eat off of the plasticware.

[idril]

We never had divided plates... but we ditched the kid plates and sippy cups right about 2.5. It's so much nicer being able to set the table with all of the same plates! I bought some heavy juice glasses for the girls so that if they get tipped over they won't break and so far so good. And in two years, we've only had one broken plate. We still use water bottles for night time and car trips.

[Minette]

We still use toddler stuff and my DDs are 6! But it's by their choice. I'm not ready to let them use glass glasses (not for the drinking aspect, but for the carrying-to-the-kitchen aspect), but I would happily switch them to regular plates and silverware. However, they are both too attached to their Thomas plates, and Sarah loves her toddler silverware from Target.

They do use open cups -- and spill them almost once a day. We use straw sippies for the car, and leakproof sippies for the bedroom.

But on the other stuff, I say switch them now before they think they have a choice!

[Lydia]

I switched very early but I was eager to get rid of toddler stuff. We got rid of the highchairs/boosters and I bought Corelle dishes at the same time so I figured it was a great time to make the transition. I haven't used sippy cups since my kids were two. I bought ten of the Rubbermaid Litterless Juice Boxes and they have been a great alternative. At breakfast, lunch, and supper we all use cups but for the rest of the day I serve drinks in the juice boxes.

[Happy June]

My LOs are a little over 2.5 now and we have been using normal dishes and cups for almost a year now. We have smaller mugs and smaller but heavy glasses for them, but it matches our regular porcelain and glass. So far, nothing has been broken although we did have a few near-misses (not throwing, but accidently wiping a plate or glass off the edge of the table with the arm while reaching for something else) and of course a cup tipping over every now and then. They also use proper but small silverware.

We use the plastic plates and cups for snacks in the garden or when I have a crowd of kids where I do not know if all of them are used to, or ready for, glass and porcelain. it does not make sense to worry about things like that on a playdate.

We still have sippies for their early morning milk which they have in the bathroom while I dress for the office before they dress for daycare - it is the one time where I want to make sure they do not spill too much. For travelling we have straw cups.

DD drinks more milk from her sippy, DS more from a regular cup. So I guess it evens out over the day. I also found that once they accepted that sippies were not a choice anymore, they began drinking water just a regularly from their cups (which are always available, but stay on the table).

[Lynn76]

Not much help here as my 6yr old still uses the plastic plates. He loves his Spiderman and Snoopy plates!! I don't have enough toddler size silverware for all 3 of my kids so I brought out the dessert forks for them and it works great! As soon as I find some smaller plates at Target, I will be getting rid of the plastic plates. My sil found some for her boys. They are clear and size of a salad plate.

As for sippies, the twins still have theirs. Mostly straw kind but a few other types of sippys and we won't be getting rid of those for quite a while. For supper tho we do use open cups. I found some juice cups from a Montessori site. They are thicker and none of ours have broken. My oldest ds has a Tervis cup with McQueen on it. Found it Bed Bath and Beyond. When the twins are older they will each get one too. We also have an array of stainless steel water bottles to use too.

[mommylaura]

My pediatrician almost choked when I told her my son still used a sippie at his four year old well child visit! The twins, on the other hand, have been using regular cups since their second birthday. I got them straw cups for smoothies and a water bottles for car trips. I'm planning on tossing the sippies altogether soon since we haven't used them lately. I love the plastic divided plates and my kids will likely still be eating out of them when they go to college ;)

[megkc03]

Update: the boys threw their cups away yesterday. Granted I saved one each...lol! But they don't know that! I told them they were going to school and they didn't need them anymore. In all honesty, they rarely use them anyways.

Dh is itching to get rid of the plates too, but I like how they are divided. All I need is them to freak out because food is touching! Lol! But they only have those plates here and are fine elsewhere.

Baby steps, right? Lol!

[NicoleLea]

We still feed them off their "kiddy plates" for the most part. They are totally capable of eating on adult plates but the ones with designs and characters on them are just fun. Heck, even I like them!

[maybell]

I got onto a no plastic kick... so I wanted to get rid of all the plastic sippies and plates.

I have some Corelle bowls that they use, and some other random ceramic plates I got at IKEA for them. I didn't want them to accidently break any of my "set" of dishes. So they still use these other plates/bowls. I use small glass glasses for water and milk, and have a few stainless steel cups too.

We started all this last January, so they were 2 yrs 8 months or so. Just recently when I've given them access to the silverware drawer are they INSISTING using our big spoons and forks... I try to steer them towards the small ones, but sometimes they are wielding the big ones too. Their job now is to help set the table with their fork/spoon and a napkin.

we use their stainless steel insulated sippies for school lunches or the car, but otherwise they are drinking from cups.

go for it!