Monday, October 8, 2012

More coffee please - Toddle Along Tuesday


Mother of the year right here. Carina has been after my cup of coffee for as long as I can remember. One day she reached up onto our kitchen table (which I thought was a safe, high-enough place) and knocked it on the floor. Thank goodness it took a trajectory in the opposite direction, so she emerged from the incident burn-free.

After that, I decided it was worth letting her taste coffee to see how yucky it is to the infantile palate. Or so I assumed it would be? My hope was that this little sip would turn her off and she would stop trying to swipe it. I poured a very small amount in her tea cup and watched. She slowly raised it to her mouth, took a sip, and exclaimed, "mmmm yummy coffee! More coffee!"

Fail. Just...fail.

Since that day, she has asked for coffee almost every morning. She doesn't really care for juice, is "meh" about milk, but goes crazy for Breakfast Blend and Colombian Roast. ::facepalm::

More coffee please!
Before you judge, every time we give her some (which isn't often), we simply pour a very tiny bit and then load it up with milk. And? It's usually decaf :)

Are there any other toddlers out there with a taste for café au lait?



This week's Toddle Along Tuesday co-host is Heather from Terrell Family Fun and the topic is funny/quirky baby or toddler habits! Does your little one do something that constantly cracks you up or makes you shake your head? There are no rules here, except that you link up a relevant post (old or new) rather than your whole blog (or business, #comeonnow).


(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)


Next week's topic is weddings! I realized I've never shared photos from our wedding on the blog. This should be fun; share yours!

If you like advance notice for TAT, check out the bottom right of my blog - topics for the next couple months are listed. Would you like to submit a topic idea and/or volunteer to co-host one week? E-mail me!

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Comments (29)

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My younger brother once went around at a party when he was about a year old and finished off all the glasses of beer he could find. My family doesn't EVER drink so you can imagine how that went over, lol
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1 reply · active 645 weeks ago
Ours loves coffe ice cream and I would imagine likes coffee. She always asks for it when we have it on the weekend (otherwise it's in the car on the way to work) and Starbucks is in her vocabulary.
I have avoided this so far but I am waiting for this day!
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EEK! Luckily G thinks I only drink tea...no way I am willing to share my beloved Pumpkin Spice in the morning!
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This? Is awesome. My daughter has sips of my iced coffee off and on and loves it too. Hey, I am a huge coffee lover so I think it's in the genes :)
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I could have written this post! Henry wants to have the lost swallow of my coffee every morning. By that point it's just a few drops of cold yuckiness with extra cream but he loves it!
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I should have read this before giving Mackenzie some if Erin's frappe with a straw. It was whip cream at first and then some mocha on the last bite. I though for sure she wouldn't like it. Cue tantrum when Erin took it away. Oops.
It is so comforting to know that my kid isn't the only one who 1. loves coffee and 2. is allowed to indulge every now and then ;)
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So funny. When I was in Panama for the Peace Corps they always gave their kids coffee in the morning (with lots of milk and sugar). I thought it was very odd :).
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1 reply · active 645 weeks ago
How interesting!
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My toddlers LOVE coffee and will beg for it every morning. I give them little sips from my mug. A little coffee isn't going to hurt anyone. I have very fond memories of drinking "coffee in the little cup" when I was little. My grandma would give me a little espresso cup with coffee and milk and a sugar cube. I'm looking for a set just like the one she had so I can give it to my girls the same way.
YES! Both of my kids (almost 4 and just 1) love coffee. I hardly let them have it, though, because they're both actually intolerant of dairy proteins but my non-dairy-creamer-hating-self uses only real dairy creamer or actual milk in her coffee. So more than a sip of it and they'll have, um, troubles. I use almond milk when I have it and do allow them to share a little, but they don't really like the almond milk (and coconut milk is just vile).
I'm about to be very honest right now. I was judging you a bit while reading this post. I'm thinking, "Okay, I get the reason behind your attempt to turn her off to the stuff with a sip...I'd do something like that, too." But as I read on and saw that you occasionally give her more (sometimes not decaf), the judgment stepped in. I THEN read the comments wondering if other moms give their kiddos tastes, too. Turns out they do. I'm now wondering if it's actually that big of a deal? My baby is 5 months old, so I haven't crossed this bridge yet. But after reading this I'm going to read up on the "dangers" of a little caffeine in the form of coffee and kiddos. My initial judging reaction is based on no real knowledge of the nutritional value or harm that coffee might hold. So, I think I better revisit my thinking on it and do a little research before jumping to judge. When it's my time to handle my daughters curiosity with coffee, I want to really know if sips here and there are okay. There's not a day that goes by that doesn't require learning something new to better raise your kid. Sheesh!
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1 reply · active 645 weeks ago
Oh I'm sure there is no nutritional value at all in a sip of coffee. The "me" from a year ago would probably be judging the "me" from today as well. I guess I've just learned to pick my battles ;)
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Something similar happened with my youngest brother and chocolate covered espresso beans ;) He was always a bouncy, active child, so he REALLY didn't need those! ;)
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I was going to suggest decaf so I bet it's totally fine. I drank tea from a very young age and I don't think they had decaf tea in Russia. I turned out (kinda sorta) ok. P LOVES our coffee but we took a SLIGHTLY different approach. We started letting her smell it and say, mama's drink, Peanut can smell only. It's like the thing we do with houseplants and flowers, smell only - no touch. So now every Saturday morning she runs up, after drinking her milk, and goes for the coffee. Smells it, goes MMMMMMMMM, "mama" and points for us to taste it. LOL it's hilarious to watch.
I have given her some decaf tea to see if she would like some since it's been so chilly out - so far she seems indifferent.
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1 reply · active 645 weeks ago
That is so so cute. I wish I would have thought of that! The damage is done, I guess ;)
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I know at least a couple friends' toddlers who like coffee and get it sometimes. I didn't like coffee until I was in high school, so I think it's weird that some little kids like it, but I don't think it's bad parenting to give it to them sometimes. At 3 weeks old (35 weeks gestational age), my kid is too young for coffee... but in the NICU they give caffeine as a medication to prevent apnea and bradycardia. One of the doctors refers to it as the babies' coffee, lol. As coffee addicts, DH and I thought that was pretty perfect.
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My aunt had 4 sons, and the youngest did the same thing - constantly grabbed for her coffee mug until she (he was about 9 months old at the time) decided to let him have a sip, thinking he would certainly hate it and leave her alone from then on... Nope! This boy is now 11 years old, and will STILL drink BLACK coffee occasionally because he likes it! He also seems to have turned into a bit of a 'food' person, has decided he wants to be a chef when he grows up and has started cooking gourmet meals for his 6-person family comprised almost entirely of teenaged boys. Did I mention he's 11? It's a sign of great things to come, I'm sure ;)
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Bahaha! Oh, toddlers. I've always discouraged Colin from swiping my coffee by telling him it's hot. For some reason, the word "hot" really hits home with him and he won't touch whatever we tell him is hot - including electrical outlets. :)
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My mom does that with my nephew too. She just puts a few drops of coffee into a small cup of milk. He thinks he is "drinking coffee" like Grandma and is really only getting a negligible amount.
Eh. It's not gonna hurt her. I give Evie sips of sweet tea at dinner sometimes, actually probably twice a week. It's caffienated and full of sugar. Judge away. I also give Evie "coffee" or "iced coffee" (chocolate milk) sometimes when she wants my coffee!
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This made me smile :) A friend's little guy is much the same - loves a sip of milky decaf a couple of times a week!
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This post made me laugh. Destructo also really likes when he cons a sip of coffee out of daddy.

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This strategy has backfired with my 18 month old every single time... coffee, beer, blue cheese... she likes it all.
anonymous's avatar

anonymous · 645 weeks ago

No worries. Frankly I think that the coffee is actually better and healthier than most soft drinks anyway.
My grandma used to give me coffee when I was young. I drank it for years then as a teenager it was suddenly not so tasty to me anymore, lol!
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