Potty training is a whipping. I changed two pairs of panties and one diaper in roughly 30 minutes Monday.

We have mastered the art of pee-pee, #2. Not so much.

The whole process is a little daunting, you mom’s before me know this. Princess Cupcake had little to no interest in using the potty thank you VERY much. She did not care that all her friends at school were going potty. She was happy enough to “try” by sitting on the toilet for about 2 nanoseconds and then announce, “I done!”

She had very strong opinions about going on the potty. Her opinion was that she liked her diaper.

I’ve heard all the arguments about the good and bad of a reward system for this. We chose bribery and I’ve made my peace with it.

• We stared with positive reinforcement but that provided zero motivation for her.
• So then tried candy (jars in every bathroom), still not impressed.
• We tried the Sesame Street sticker chart kit and we got a spark of her attention. I realized that my kid is goal oriented and since you get a PINK Abby Cadabby sticker for sitting on the potty, we ran out of those rapidly. Sadly, the blue Cookie Monster ones were largely left untouched.
• We even did the treasure chest of goodies that she could pick out one if she went pee-pee. No dice.

Right about the time the hubs said he was getting involved with “corrective action,” something clicked in her mind. Either she feared Daddy or she sensed a fight brewing between Mommy and Daddy about said method and decided to cross over to the dark side of bathroom activities to keep the peace.

We were at the Arboretum watching our favorite kid entertainer Eddie Coker and Princess’ friend Nora — a potty pro. Nora’s mommy told Nora to go to the potty with another mommy. About 5 minutes after Nora returned proclaiming success, Princess announced that she too needed to go visit the potty.

Having low expectations, I traipsed up the hill with her dragging our gargantuan bag of potty paraphernalia and low and behold, the little stinker sat on the pot and went.

The tides had turned. And I was so unprepared! I didn’t have candy, or toys or stickers or anything!

Kid was thinking that she would not be denied her reward. She asked for jelly beans and a special treat from her treasure chest when we got home.

Hallelujah. We were on the right path.

That was a month ago. And I found that buying out Target when the toddler panties went on sale was a smart move. I put all of those in the treasure chest and she is now motivated to do her business every morning so she can pick out a new pair of panties to wear. This has actually worked really well and I note this under small strokes of genius by Mommy. And she actually forgets about the jelly beans half the time and she’s only interested in the new panties in the morning and none of the other dollar-store gems it is stuffed with.

Unexpectedly, she’s not even going in her nighttime diaper. We told her if she kept it dry 7 nights in a row, she could wear panties to bed. With her newfound appreciation for going without diapers (“they for babies”), this has become a VERY important milestone in her mind. We started the clock over once, not because she went at night, but that morning she didn’t tell us and went in her night-night diapee. Personally, I was relieved to have 7 more nights just to make sure this was a sane idea. She’s conquered it so we’ll live up to our promise – although Daddy is not so sure because…

She’s still is afraid to go poopy in the potty. She will hold it for days rather than go on the potty. So I’ve upped the ante.

Here’s how that went down:

We’re driving to school one morning and Princess asked if we could buy a Barbie with a white princess dress like the one her friend at school had. My mind thought to say “Let’s ask Santa” but out of my mouth came,

“If you go poppy on the potty three times in a row and no accidents, then you can have it. We’ll even go buy it tonight, but you can’t play with it until you poppy three times in the potty.”

Where did that come from? Nice save Mom.

These are high stakes for the kid. With the memory of an elephant, she did NOT forget when I picked her up that we would

My fairy godmother

go find her doll. In the toy aisle at Target she decided she didn’t really like the wedding Barbie afterall so I showed her the Cinderella wedding dress doll on line (much sparklier) and we are now fully engaged with the mission.

This time Cinderella is playing the role of fairy godmother and will arrive tomorrow and save me from my piles of poopy panties.

I’d love to hear your best potty training stories or tips! Please comment below.