A Talent???

Maybe calling it a "talent" is going a little too far, but Evan sure has a unique ability that has come in very handy for him these past few days. I'll explain, but be warned. If you are offended by "potty talk" just click yourself on outta here, because that's where this is headed....

Evan is 3 1/2 years old and not potty trained. Not for lack of trying or enthusiasm on my part. He just flat out resisted. He wanted NOTHING to do with the little potty or the big potty or underwear. Nothing. So I tried motivational charts and I bought some superhero underwear and we bought books and rented potty training movies. We made several attempts, and eventually I actually got him to sit on the potty. That was great. He would sit, but still....nothing.

The last couple of weeks we made some progress. He started peeing on the potty.......for a price....oh he is a smart boy. So, we gave him a little treat every time he peed. But he still wouldn't poop. He kept going in his pullup, no matter how many treats we offered.

Recently I got desperate. What I'm about to reveal will NOT get me on the list for "Mommy of the Year", but like I said, I was getting desperate. We realized that Evan was going to need some SERIOUS motivation to actually pee AND poop on the potty. So we had an idea. I don't know if it was John's idea or mine, but we both agreed. We knew it was excessive, but desperation does things to a person.

Evan is into superheroes. He especially likes the Marvel Superhero Squad action figures. So we told him that every time he goes poop on the potty, he'd get a little superhero. We knew it might get a little expensive, but come on. It was an investment. And how long does it really take to potty train a kid? A few weeks, maybe? Evan only goes poop once a day.....occasionally twice. We figured each action figure was about 3 or 4 dollars, and that's a little expensive, but this was worth it. We'd be over the hurdle. It was kinda like investing in our child's future....helping him grow as a person.

It worked SO well! He has been pooping on the potty for days now, really. That superhero motivation did the trick!

But now we have hit a bit of a snag. It seems Evan has discovered a talent, so to speak. Perhaps "skill" is a better word. The boy can poop AT WILL. NOT kidding you. Oh, he doesn't go in his Pullup AT ALL anymore. But every time he decides he wants a new superhero, he says, "mommy, I need to go poopy". I say, "are you sure, Evan, you just went poopy this afternoon?" We treck to the bathroom and WHAMO!....he does it! He poops. Seriously. It has me floored. He pooped 3 times a day for the last two days and now today he pooped 4 times!!! How is this possible?! He doesn't eat THAT much. He's not fooling me, either. Believe me, at $4 a pop for those superheroes, I am making SURE there is some real pooping action going on. And there is.....EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

So, John and I will have to rethink our genius idea and come up with a plan that will..... a) still manage to motivate Evan to pee AND poop on the potty, and b) keep us out of the poorhouse. This will take some thought and creativity.

In the meantime, I better go. I need to order some more superheroes.

TTFN
~Tina