Since there is nothing else going on in our daughter and son-in-law’s life this summer, Austyn decided it would be a great time to potty train Emery.
There are a few developmental issue that we are all waiting for Emery to discover. One is knowing when there is too much food in her mouth, preferably before she is choking. The second in being potty trained. At the age of four, these two things put her behind on the charts; but she knows what a sphere, cylinder, and pyramid are, so we’re not very concerned about the other two.
As a reward for peeing on the potty, Emery gets treats. This is great EXCEPT that since the day they arrived, I give her treats for just being cute. Mommy gives her one or two Gummies for her attempts on the potty chair, I give her five for just asking. There five colors in the packages I buy and she always knows which one is missing. I feel this is brilliant and she should be rewarded for her intelligence.
Now that we have connected Gummies to potting, whenever she wants a treat, she says, “I’m going to go pee so I can get treats.” She then proceeds to the bathroom, dutifully sits on the seat which is just her size. When she reappears, she announces her success with hands cupped in anticipation. Mommy goes and checks for accuracy, I reach for the bag and begin counting to five.
This evening as she stood motionless on the deck with liquid trickling down her pant leg, she informed us, “I think my diaper has a leak.” In deed there was.
A short time later, as I was cleaning up the kitchen she came in asking for Gummies… “Neenee, can I have Gummie Bears…I want some Gummie Bears…I’m going to go sit on the potty so I can have a treat…my diaper’s still leaking….”
It was so much easier before mommy got here!