Amongst his other lovely habits, Spot likes to drink water out of cups. We humans also like to drink out of cups, and we both have a glass by the bedside for quenching our middle-of-the-night thirsties. These used to be just a regular kinda glass, until I discovered at 3am that my glass not only contained water, but a skin of cat fur and a chunk of cat litter marinating at the bottom. After I was done gagging, I changed our water containers to ones with lids.
These were plastic Rubbermaid containers that I had brought over from the States, and they just couldn’t keep up with years of nightly use. They have died, one by one, over the last eight years. The most recent and final death was my cup, dammit.
And we had nothing to replace it. I couldn’t find anything suitable for sale around here, either. You see, essential to my 3am thirsties is being able to open the container without waking up fully. Screw tops are too hard for me. If I think that have to wake up that much, I’ll choose to go back to sleep. No matter how parched I am.
For a while I had a regular glass with a post-it sitting on top as a Spot-blocker. But I got lazy about putting the paper back on, and Spot found it, and I ended up drinking cat hair again. Nothing extra, thankfully.
iDJ knew well of my tribulations. He also does all the grocery-shopping. Without making an announcement, he had been looking for a replacement water-glass for me! That alone is pretty impressive (the no-announcement bit).
He brought me home this.
It’s a sippy-cup. For babies.
Um.
Thanks?
Actually, as he explained to my bemused face as I unpacked the shopping bag, he spent a lot of mental effort on picking out my sippy-cup. He wanted to get me the one with cats on it, but the cat one was meant for babies below 18 months. He had to at least get my age range right, even if it meant no kitties. This one is robots, which he knows are also acceptable to me. Better, it’s no-spill, so I won’t have a recurrence of the time I spilled water all over myself, my pillow, my side of the bed, and – of course – Spottie. I can drink from this thing while flat on my back! Even better than that, it’s insulated so my water might still be cold by the unreasonable time I want some. That’s a massive plus in my book, I hate water. I hate warm water even more.
I don’t think I have ever owned a sippy-cup. Pretty sure these didn’t exist in any form back in the early 70’s. Prove me wrong if I’m wrong, I’m kinda interested to know for sure.
I haven’t quite figured out the mechanics of the thing; it seems you have to bite it to get the water flowing, and there’s a vacuum problem that prevents a really good draught. But if an 18-month-old can figure it out, I might have a chance.
heretherebespiders 
Oh WOW! It’s even cooler than I imagined!!
It is, isn’t it! I apologised to himself in advance for the piss I’d be pulling in this post. I like it, I really do!
It’s sweet when they put thought into something.
He’s a complete sweetheart, really.
Very nice. Cerys approves. She has some similar to this. 😉
Can she give me tips on how to get it to flow properly?
Insulated, too? Just about perfect.
I know! It’s funny as hell, but dammed if it isn’t engineered to a T. I might be starting a trend.
Ah, I make do with a normal water bottle and the cats have the glass. This could be a solution but if it makes a noise, I’m done for. Is it really slurpy?
Not slurpy at all, very quiet! I think I’d choke if I had one of the pull-up top water bottles. I have a drinking problem – I can choke on saliva…
Bengals are not for the faint of heart.
Somehow, Nicklel Catmium never molests the lightweight plastic stein on my very small bedtable, but she is always clinking her collar bell against the Engineer’s water glass when he sleeps over. Which of course gives her away. A veteran of cats, he knows exactly where to nudge one to precipitate a leap to the floor.
Brilliant! I would just get a dirty look and then a half-hour of hollering from downstairs. It’s best if neither he nor I wakes up fully as we are both assholes when barely awake.
Show me what the old cup was and I can ship you one. I use the next level of kids cups :the top snaps on but you don’t have to suck hard to get liquid out. We are big on kid solutions for adults here because many tails and paws in everything.
That’s very nice of you! I had a look and they don’t make them anymore. And I’m kind of cranky with Rubbermaid for closing their plant in Wooster, Ohio. That area needs more jobs, not less!
Babies are born with a reflex to suck. They suck your breast, they suck their milk bottle, if you give them a finger they will suck at it too. As adult, we get lazy and let the liquid flow freely into our mouth with minimal effort, but it’s very natural for toddlers to suck on their cup to drink from it.
Didn’t you mention before that you were not going to let your man buy anything for you anymore, since he bought that huge lighter?
I’ve actually tried more sucking but there’s still a vacuum issue. I can only get a little bit, which would be more than enough if I wasn’t a big moose of a woman 🙂
No no, I said he should be supervised! But I hate shopping so that’s not going to happen. Plus then I wouldn’t be able to make fun of his purchases here!
I kinda like it – you can get a drink and some exercise without quite waking up, free of cat detritus, with bonus robots.
I have to admit with the others, I kinda like it too!
I usually just use bottles. Or Suki will play with the water in my glass, or hiro will knock it off the nightstand. 😛
You might want to look into this then! No-spill and probably quite shatter-resistant too 🙂