Not Ashamed To Use Bribery

Today is our first hard-core day of toilet training. I'm employing a few different tactics to get through it:

*The in-laws gave us a toilet training kit (I'm sure they just meant to help, but I still feel like, What are you trying to say?). It comes with a little hippo that the boys get to push its belly after they use the toilet. It says things like, "You're a potty pro!" and, "Fantastic flushing!" and, "You're a clean, mean, bathroom machine!" The boys love it. I like it because it offers an immediate reward and positive reinforcements on top of the praise I give them.

*The kit also came with a reminder monkey that says "Time to use the potty!" every 20 minutes. It's so annoying and it interrupts everything (like typing this post), but it helps us stay on top of things and give the boys a chance to use the toilet before they use their diaper.

*I made a reward chart that the boys can color when they poop in the toilet (I got the idea from Lura, who got her boy a train after he went so many times--how many times did he have to go to get the train, Lura?). The reward we'll start out with is a trip to the ice cream shop with Grandpa. After the boys poop in the toilet seven times and color in the cone, then they can go with Grandpa for ice cream.

When we first started talking about what we get to do when we use the toilet, the boys said they wanted to ride in Grandpa's Corvette. I didn't think that would work because a) Drew is afraid of it and when the time came to get in he'd probably throw a tantrum, and b) there is no backseat in the Corvette, thus nowhere for the carseats to go. But we had fun talking about riding in the Corvette anyway. The conversation went like this:

Drew: I want to ride the Corvette!

Mom: What do you have to do to ride in the Corvette?

Drew: I have to...um...pee in the toilet!

Mom: That's right! But maybe instead of the Corvette, you could go get ice cream with Grandpa.

Owen: I want to get ice cream Grandpa!

Mom: What do you have to do?

Owen: I dunno!

Drew: I have to pee in the Corvette!

Owen: You don't pee in the truck, Drew!

Random!