January 4, 2008
It started with a bribe. I let Ryan pick a train from the store and told him he could have it when he went “poopoo in the potty” (he’d been successful peeing in the toilet many times already). He chose “Dennis” and the steel grey diesel sat on the bathroom counter as a reminder for several days. Every time we changed a messy diaper I reminded him what he needed to do so he could have Dennis. He sat on the toilet holding the packaged train many times, trying so hard. Then one day it happened and we had a potty party. Ryan got his new train but now that Dennis was in his possession he seemed content to go in his diaper again. Then Jared and I found Spencer, the coveted silvery-blue engine who according to Ryan is very strong. (He flexes his arm muscles and grits his teeth when he declares “Spencer strong.”) Spencer became the next desired potty train. Ryan eventually got his reward along with Salty the old ocean dock engine and Harold the helicopter.
Now he’s fairy comfortable using the toilet so it’s time to raise the bar. The new deal is Ryan must go “poopoo” in the toilet three times before he gets Culdee, the purple two-faced train. Explaining this delayed reward to a two-year old has been difficult, but we made him a sticker chart to help him visualize the process. It seems to be working (so far, *crossing my fingers*), at least he’s asking to go and isn’t reluctant to try. This evening as we were putting Ryan to bed he started crying that he wanted to go poopoo. I said no because he’d already gone twice today and had tried several times this evening. Plus, I’d just put a clean diaper on him. Jared asked, “How are we supposed to potty train if we don’t take him when he asks to go?” It’s a question we’re still pondering. Does he really need to go (again) or is it manipulation to stay up longer? We decided for tonight it was the latter and finished our goodnights. A little later we started to chuckle when we realized Ryan had latched onto Jared’s words as we heard him calling from his bed that he wanted the “potty train.”
It started with a bribe. I let Ryan pick a train from the store and told him he could have it when he went “poopoo in the potty” (he’d been successful peeing in the toilet many times already). He chose “Dennis” and the steel grey diesel sat on the bathroom counter as a reminder for several days. Every time we changed a messy diaper I reminded him what he needed to do so he could have Dennis. He sat on the toilet holding the packaged train many times, trying so hard. Then one day it happened and we had a potty party. Ryan got his new train but now that Dennis was in his possession he seemed content to go in his diaper again. Then Jared and I found Spencer, the coveted silvery-blue engine who according to Ryan is very strong. (He flexes his arm muscles and grits his teeth when he declares “Spencer strong.”) Spencer became the next desired potty train. Ryan eventually got his reward along with Salty the old ocean dock engine and Harold the helicopter.
Now he’s fairy comfortable using the toilet so it’s time to raise the bar. The new deal is Ryan must go “poopoo” in the toilet three times before he gets Culdee, the purple two-faced train. Explaining this delayed reward to a two-year old has been difficult, but we made him a sticker chart to help him visualize the process. It seems to be working (so far, *crossing my fingers*), at least he’s asking to go and isn’t reluctant to try. This evening as we were putting Ryan to bed he started crying that he wanted to go poopoo. I said no because he’d already gone twice today and had tried several times this evening. Plus, I’d just put a clean diaper on him. Jared asked, “How are we supposed to potty train if we don’t take him when he asks to go?” It’s a question we’re still pondering. Does he really need to go (again) or is it manipulation to stay up longer? We decided for tonight it was the latter and finished our goodnights. A little later we started to chuckle when we realized Ryan had latched onto Jared’s words as we heard him calling from his bed that he wanted the “potty train.”
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