After months of talking about it, weeks of seriously trying and loads of rewards, big and small, Greta finally took her first poo in the big girl potty a couple of days ago. I could say it was due to our gentle nurturing touch or us letting her decide when she was ready and not rushing her into potty training, but, the fact is, she did it for a horse.
Yep, contrary to what all the books and so-called experts say, in our case, bribery and rewards totally worked. Frustrated with how slowly things were progressing, Mrs. Yeti printed up a Disney Princess rewards chart, bought an s-load of shiny gold star stickers and got serious. If Greta pulled down her own diaper, she got a star. Washed her hands, another star. Sat on the toilet for a while and even contemplated going, yet another star. And when she actually used the toilet, well, that was usually good for at least a couple of stars and a small reward. To make the rewards a little more interesting, we raided the dollar bins at Target the week before for cheapie gifts that we knew she’d want, you know, Disney Fairy pens and shit, nothing too crazy.
But the grand prize, the big reward for using the big girl potty for Numero Dos, was Maximus, the badass horse from the movie Tangled. And let me tell ya, having a cool prize like that sitting in a box on the shelf in her bedroom worked wonders. She talked about her prize and what she had to do to win it for weeks and then things got even more heated when my Mom moved the horse to the bathroom last week during her visit. Now, every time Greta sat on the toilet she would be forced to stare at that beautiful white stallion just waiting to be played with. Truth be told, we were all forced to look at Maximus every time we used the bathroom, but, he has really pretty hair and he makes cool sounds and stuff, so, no biggie.
Anyway, Thursday night Greta finally bit the bullet, sat down on the big girl potty and let loose with what I like to call the mother of all toddler bowel movements. Seriously, it was a spectacular turd, man. I don’t know who was cheering louder when she pooped that thing out, the chorus of potty training angels in heaven or my wallet: “Hooray! No more expensive diapers!”. Either way, there was a lot of cheering going on in our tiny little bathroom. We could not have been prouder!
But all Greta cared about was that horse. And as soon as she’d washed and dried her hands (two gold stars!) and pulled up her big girl panties (one more!) she ripped open his box and started playing with Maximus. Whew…you never saw a girl love a horse more! It was awesome.
And the best part is that when it came time to poo again the next day, she used the big girl potty again. Totally on her own, with no big reward or anything. Whew…thank you, Maximus, for everything. I can’t wait to brush your pretty hair. 🙂
Stay-at-home-Yeti 