mmmotivation

About the only thing Lola and Astrid share besides genes, a family resemblance, and (if their feeling nice) toys, is an early propensity for the potty.  With Lo it all started while visiting G-ma up at the lake in northern lower MI (the tip of the pinky finger for those of you familiar with palmer geography).  She was naked for most of the trip and a few days in started asking to be let out of the house so she could "go pee in the grass."  It felt a little strange letting my daughter out as opposed to, oh say, a dog, but it was the beginning of an awareness when it came to bodily functions so we just rolled with it.

Having watched her sister all of her life and having spent a good portion of that time watching her go to the bathroom, Ms. A got the idea of what the toilet was all about even earlier than her sister.  From about the age of one, Astrid could be set upon the thrown and counted upon to produce a trickle.  We looked at it as kind of a bath time trick until it got warm enough this past Spring for her to run around without trow (nothing like standing in a puddle to help a kid make the connection between the urge and the act) and then we started encouraging her in earnest.  She particularly loved getting a standing ovation after a successful toilette and took to the whole thing like a fish to water.

We spent the whole summer having only the occasional accident and then...oh gawd, and then...  Last week we had some serious regression.  I've no idea what spurred it.  A phase of the moon?  Who knows?  What I do know was that I'd had it after she'd peed in her carseat three times in one day.  Sure, you can wash the cover, but there's foam under there that doesn't come off seat and ewwwww.  Just ew.  It was time for drastic measures.

We picked up a large bag of M&Ms at the grocery store on Saturday and yesterday began setting the kitchen timer every half an hour and rewarding anything over a quarter teaspoon with a piece of candy covered chocolate.  The whole enterprise was a huge success and had the unintended consequence of getting Lola to make her bed, clean up her room, and perform a myriad of other chores...all for payment in M&Ms, of course.  That success was marred  however when, at the end of the day  right before bed, Astrid started running around the house crowing "I peeeeed!  I peeeed!."  She was clothed at the time.  When I looked at her and gravely asked, "Astrid, where are you supposed to go potty?" she replied, "In my pants!"  [Pause]  This regression may go back farther than I thought.

Comments

[eireann]

oh, I shouldn't be laughing, but I totally am. Oh dear. ;)

[cally]

What a yummy yarn colour. I just want to bury my face in it's cosyness.

I love the photo's you take for your blog, especially the cute kids hats, the sunflower and the haunting twin towers with winter tree.