I can't imagine how many thousands of books and articles have been written on the subject of potty training. Each one offers a "method" - whether it's boot camp style or motivation style (anything from stickers to candy).
For Sophia, we tried it all until we finally hit upon the one thing that truly motivated her. She was quickly approaching her 3rd birthday and I had all but given up. One day I told her that if she went pee pee in the potty, I would give her money, and then she could go to the store and pick out whatever she wanted (that would be the dollar store of course).
I forgot about it and I thought she did too. A week later I was on the phone with a friend and Sophia announced, "Mommy, I go pee pee on potty? I get money? I go to store?" I said, "Sure, honey, and kept talking, never imagining she was serious. She repeated it more loudly and more persistently. I told my friend I'd call her back and promptly put her on the potty, where she promptly peed in thepotty!! I was shocked. My daughter had somehow grasped the concept of money at the ripe old age of 2.
So...Eva just turned 2...and I must admit I have no desire or energy or motivation to potty train her. I put her on there now and then, she sits happy as a clam for about 2 seconds, and then wants to rip up the toilet paper and flush the toilet. I have just decided she'll do it when she's ready.
This morning - I had a rough night sleeping and (miracle of miracles) was still sound asleep at 7:40 am. Sophia comes rushing into my bedroom, ecstatically proclaiming that Eva has gone pee pee on the potty and I must come see for myself! Have you ever gone from dead sleep to cheerleader in 2 seconds? Neither have I. It's hard to do. But I did it because Sophia was so darned proud of her sister. I have no idea if Eva actually peed in the potty but we threw a little party in our bathroom early this morning.
So my new potty training method? Don't do anything - just let the 4 year old do it!
3 comments:
Oh Katie, this made me laugh SO hard, out loud. Congratulations for having a nice party in the bathroom so early in the morning! How hilarious that your daughter was motivated by money. She is destined to be a banker or financial accountant or something! My son turns 2 in December and he loves to sit on Holly's old potty, fully clothed, and then flush some toilet paper down, merrily waving and saying "Bye Bye!" I actually wrote a post about potty training my daughter. I'll dig it up and give you the link in another comment (she didn't get it until she was almost 3). Anyway, thanks for giving me such a great laugh!
This is good to know! Thanks for the 101 class. I'll just let Allison do it! Sure will make it easier for me!
Love It! I give Abigail partial credit for training Josh. She is clearly the cheerleader in our family!
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