Ever since Faith was born, Grace has refused to use the potty. When I ask her if she needs to tee-tee in the potty I get a resounding, "No!" I've tried asking her if she's a big girl ("Yes!") and then explaining to her that big girls tee-tee in the potty. Her response? "I pah-ee in my die-per. Like Bait!" (I potty in my diaper. Like Faith.) Hmmm. Back to bribery I suppose. Only this time Hersey kisses aren't working. Neither are lollipops or any other type of candy or ice cream or edible goodies.
So I broke out the big guns. A mermaid! Grace adores mermaids. After watching Disney's Little Mermaid Grace has decided that she is a mermaid. And I just happened to have a Barbie mermaid doll in our attic that Aunt Hope bought for Grace's birthday. So today I pulled it out of the attic and showed it to Grace. It was love at first sight. She said, "Oh, Momma. Uh mer-maid! She's bew-ful! Tan I haff her?" (Oh, Momma. A mermaid! She's beautiful! Can I have her?) So I told her that mermaids like to help little girls tee-tee in the potty. And that if Grace tee-teed in the potty Grace could have her. Grace's response? "I need to go tee-tee, Momma!" And she did.
As soon as she finished she asked, "Tan I haff my mermaid now?" (Can I have my mermaid now?) And I said no. She had to tee-tee in the potty all day and then when Daddy came home she could have her mermaid. Much to my surprise she was okay with that. Grace continued to inspect her reward. "Yook Momma. Dare's sun-dasses! And shoes! Ware's her utter shoe?" (Look, Momma. There's sunglasses! And shoes! Where's her other shoe?) And so on. Grace inspected every tiny detail of her mermaid and accessories but never tried to open her or threw any type of temper tantrum. She was content to look her over and talk about her. We sat her on the kitchen countertop while Grace ate her snack and Grace told me all the fun things she and her mermaid were going to do together. "I brush her pri-ee hair. And put on mermaid shoes on her feet. And we pay pay pay!" (I'm going to brush her pretty hair. And put mermaid's shoes on her feet. And we are going to play, play, play!)
And when she felt the urge to tee-tee, Grace let me know and we took off to the potty. She didn't tee-tee once in her diaper. I was amazed. And when her Daddy got home from work, she ran up to him and showed him her mermaid and then immediately looked at me and asked, "Tan I haff my mermaid now?" (Can I have my mermaid now?) And so we opened her surprise and Grace played with her for the rest of the evening. She even slept in the bed with her.
I'm hoping Mermaid (that's what Grace named her new toy. How original.) will continue to help Grace go tee-tee in the potty. And we've told Grace that if she tee-tees in her diaper we have to take mermaid away. I hoping this works. As for pooping in the potty, I'm afraid Mermaid isn't going to be enough to make Grace do that in the potty. But that's okay. I have a plan for that, too...
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