Friday, July 15, 2005
carrots, sticks and the birthday poopie
Our 3-year-old gave me the most interesting birthday present this year. She came running out of the bathroom naked, grabbed me, took me to peer into the toilet and said, "Look, it's a poopie!" In fact, it was her first bowel movement on the potty.
So that was my gift. The birthday poopie. I'm just glad she didn't wrap it.
Nice story if I would be able to go to tell you how quickly said 3-year-old picked up toilet training after that early May event. But I would have to lie.
Our lovely, intelligent, well coordinated daughter has not yet grasped the concept of using the potty as an "always" thing. I think maybe she got confused with that new Sesame Street song that Cookie Monster thing, something about cookies being a "sometime" food. She does demonstration potty use...in other words, she CAN do it perfectly well, all by herself even, but she's not quite ready to fully implement the new program. It's like she's waiting for a federal grant or something. Or perhaps better bribes? We had been giving jelly beans or M&Ms for successful potty events.
Then we went negative. Although some parents have chosen to escalate from small treats to $10 toys, we decided it wasn't for us. The spouse made the call: start taking away toys for every poopy diaper. He took the GOOD toys, too: the Little Mermaid playdough set, the new, big dollhouse and the toy kitchen. It's helped some but wasn't exactly the magic bullet we had hoped for.
I don't have any client work for at least the next week or so, so I guess it's my turn to get creative. I'm going to put her in underwear and then just refuse to change her if she wets them. (At least for a while so she is uncomfortable). Of course at the same time I will try to do a better job of making her go potty every hour or so.
I am using the rubber pants, though. Even though my leather sofa now has both cat scratches and glitter glue on it, I haven't quite given up on it entirely.
So that was my gift. The birthday poopie. I'm just glad she didn't wrap it.
Nice story if I would be able to go to tell you how quickly said 3-year-old picked up toilet training after that early May event. But I would have to lie.
Our lovely, intelligent, well coordinated daughter has not yet grasped the concept of using the potty as an "always" thing. I think maybe she got confused with that new Sesame Street song that Cookie Monster thing, something about cookies being a "sometime" food. She does demonstration potty use...in other words, she CAN do it perfectly well, all by herself even, but she's not quite ready to fully implement the new program. It's like she's waiting for a federal grant or something. Or perhaps better bribes? We had been giving jelly beans or M&Ms for successful potty events.
Then we went negative. Although some parents have chosen to escalate from small treats to $10 toys, we decided it wasn't for us. The spouse made the call: start taking away toys for every poopy diaper. He took the GOOD toys, too: the Little Mermaid playdough set, the new, big dollhouse and the toy kitchen. It's helped some but wasn't exactly the magic bullet we had hoped for.
I don't have any client work for at least the next week or so, so I guess it's my turn to get creative. I'm going to put her in underwear and then just refuse to change her if she wets them. (At least for a while so she is uncomfortable). Of course at the same time I will try to do a better job of making her go potty every hour or so.
I am using the rubber pants, though. Even though my leather sofa now has both cat scratches and glitter glue on it, I haven't quite given up on it entirely.
