As parents we look forward to many milestones, first smile, first walk, the first time they tell us they hate us… But, there is that moment in every parent’s life that you finally get to hear words that you so desperately wanted to hear. These words roll out of their sweet little mouths with such pride and excitement that it will make your eyes water. And these words come when you have given up all hope that you would ever hear them.
Those five little words never get old and their meaning never diminishes. I am so ridiculously thrilled each and every time I hear them spoken out loud. They usually come out in a rush so it is more like “MommyIwenttothepotty!” But those wonderful words make me so happy.
It has been a challenge to get Baby Girl to use the toilet. She knew how, she just wouldn't. I went from begging to bribery to crying in a vain attempt to get her to pee on the potty.
How pray tell did I get our willful child to use the potty - ice cream for dinner.
Yes, you read correctly. If she filled up a row on her sticker chart she could have ice cream for dinner. We went to the store, bought poster board in her favorite color, bought ice cream stickers and I drew boxes (and a caricature of her) on the poster board. Every time she went on the potty she got a sticker and each line had another box to make getting the ice cream more challenging.
Mind you I did not actually give her just ice cream for dinner. She really just had dessert first. If she was still hungry (and she always was) she ate dinner.
The point is it’s been a few weeks now and I can honestly say – she is using the potty. Except that is for pooping, but one bodily function at a time.
