Grammy comes tomorrow!!
Ok, I'm so excited to see my mom. Every time Moana has done or said something cute in the last few weeks I've thought, "Oh mom is going to love this when she has a chance to see/hear Moana..." Must be a mother/daughter thing but I simply cannot wait to share my daughter with my mom.
But since she's staying for a full 15 days I may have another story by the time her return flight takes off. You know what they say about company. Just kidding, mom. Sort of;)
So this morning Moana came downstairs and said, "I have an idea!" I asked her what her idea was, but apparently she didn't really know b/c she just kept saying I have an idea! Too cute. And I thought, I can't wait until my mom hears her say that...
My idea was to start potty training in earnest today. Moana's idea was different.
I don't want to go to the potty.
I don't want to go shi shi (what we call pee pee around here).
Perfect. Except, not. Oh well. What was I going to do? I said, "Moana are you not ready to potty train?" And she replied sweetly, "I not ready." Not sure if she understood exactly what that meant but I put a diaper on her (like she asked) and let it go. I was really hoping to knock this potty training thing out over this Christmas break while she's away from daycare, but I'm not going to force it.
She's a smart one though, that Moana. I bought a bag of small candy canes and have been giving her one each day. She LOVES them. Pretty much every day she asks for one and I tell her you only get ONE. Then when she inevitably asks for another one I remind her that she doesn't get two, she only gets one. There were a few fits in the beginning over this but since I never gave in on the second one she eventually gave up the tantrums. So tonight she approached me in the kitchen and said, "You only get one. Can I have a candy cane please? You only get one."
So I smiled and gave her one.
Five minutes later she came back and asked sweetly, "Can I have more candy cane please?" I said, "How many do you get?" She replied with a sly smile, "Um, two!" Ha! At least now I know she really understands the concept of one vs two. But she didn't get the second one. I don't think she actually expected to because without protesting she went right back to watching Sesame Street.
So here's an idea... I wonder if I gave her candy canes for going to the potty if she'd be more open to the idea? I'm not normally into bribing my kid, but in this case, I may not be above it. Thoughts on this? She uses the potty sometimes, just not regularly. And she rarely tells me beforehand if she has to go (although she has done this before- just not regularly). Maybe a candy cane of she tells me and then actually goes? That might work. Clearly I'm thinking as I type here. Your experiences would be highly appreciated on this btw.
Moving on... it's been a week since the marathon and like a good little athlete I did not run at all for a full 7 days. But I was really happy to get back out there today. Just an easy peasy 40 minutes and it felt great. My legs actually felt better afterward than they did before the run. I love how that works. Early registration for Kama'aina (people who live here) opened for the Honolulu Marathon today. $35. Can't beat that. Count me in! I am so completely convinced I can do that better next year, so I'm gonna give it another try. How's that for a good idea?
9 comments:
I just love this age. They repeat everything and come up with the most funny things. We started Nick potty training around 18mo with m and m's. IT totally worked. He is in the phase now where's he tells us when he needs to go SOMETIMES and sometimes it's a false alarm but definitely showing interest (and he doesn't ask for m and m's anymore). Good luck! I like the candy cane idea.
I have a few friends who swear by M&Ms for potty training so I bet that Candy Canes would work too. We haven't really tried too hard with Jack yet, he really isn't interested at all.
Elena is almost 3 and just now started to consistently pee on the potty during the day. Her bribe of choice, oddly enough, is bandaids. She occasionally used the potty last Christmas and we would use small pieces of candy canes as a rewards. We used candy canes for a little bit this year, but they weren't nearly as exciting as bandaids. Good luck with the potty training. It is a lot harder than I ever expected considering Elena first started using the potty over a year ago and we are still at it!
If Zach would go for it I'd totally do it. Unfortunately there seems to be nothing that makes him want to give up his lightning mcqueen pull ups.
Sara has decided on her own that she wants to potty train this week...not sure where that came from, could be the older cousins? Anyways, I've been putting it off because we've been driving back to my home town (4.5 hours) A LOT. Let's just say that this trip on Thurs will be interesting :-) I bought a cute little Tinker Bell calendar and she gets to put a sticker on it each time she goes on the potty. Thankfully it's working right now, but I have a feeling we'll still have a few bumps in the road...like not pooping on the potty. That's been a bit of a catastrophy lately :-) I'm totally with the bribery though!
Different opinion but I would not go down the "bribe route". The problem with that is that it puts too much an emphasis on it. Every person I know has eventually been potty trained and making a big deal out of it with bribes can actually backfire. Also, there is the problem with candy as reward. Every diet has the advice that you should not use candy as a reward for yourself. So why start teaching children that it is??
Why not come up with something that is a direct consequence. E.g. go out and let Moana pick out "big girl underwear". That she can use if she does not need the diaper anymore. That is more directly related and avoids the "candy bribing", which might not be the best also to get a "healthy relationship" to sweets and candy.
I'm not a mom so I don't know for sure with your own kid, but I know when I was a teacher the problem with bribes for something that needs to become a habit is that kids then always want the bribe for it. What I'm trying to say here is- what if she still wants candy canes every time she goes potty when she's five? I know that's a bit extreme, but just a worst case scenario......
Moana - could she be any cuter? Our niece sometimes just comes out and says, "Guess what?" and when we ask her what, she pauses for a second and you can see the wheels turning, trying to think of anything to keep our attention focused on her - smart one! :) Good luck with the transition. Plus how fun to have you mum coming to visit - yay!!
It's not bribery, it's reward!! Think of it that way. I hate to make the comparison, but it is how you train dogs too. We used a reward system as well with Rhys and it worked and it doesn't last forever. I don't like bribing either, but sometimes it's the only ammo you've got!
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