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Phew! We seem to have gotten a handle on the Diva behavior that recently sidetracked us from potty training and now we’re back on track. Not that the tantrums and drama don’t still occur. They do. But I have a better handle on how to deal with them and Tater Tot is realizing that it’s not working as well as she’d like. So, we’re potty training again! And, so far, I think we’re doing pretty well. There have been accidents. There will be more. I have managed not to lose my cool when they happen. In my opinion, that’s about all we can ask for!

I was reading a book (don’t even ask me which because it wasn’t that memorable) that talked about getting your child to potty train “organically”…i.e. when they want to without extrinsic rewards. And, of course, I started to beat myself up because I couldn’t figure out how to get my child to “want” to potty train. She just didn’t and I’ve got the Preschool Countdown going so I felt like I needed to act fast. She was mildly motivated to wear undies but, when given a choice she would prefer a pull up and to not make the effort. Didn’t seem to care that some her friends at Mommy and Me were potty trained. Mildly interested in the fact that a little friend from the play group was wearing undies but, still, not enough to light a fire. Uh, okay…what do I do with that? Keep her out of preschool and in a diaper for another year until she’s “ready”? Maybe I’m selfish but I just didn’t want to do that.

So, we headed to the Target dollar aisle and I let her pick out “prizes”. We printed free Dora potty training stickers and chart and got the show on the road. Turns out now that she realizes her Diva behavior isn’t going to stop Mommy from encouraging Big Girl Potty Behavior, she’s doing a pretty good job at getting to the potty. And she loves earning stickers and prizes…and seeing Mommy dance around like an idiot, of course. The way I’m doing it is that she earns a sticker every time she goes in the potty and, at the end of the row, she earns a prize. Of course, she suggested that Mommy print a chart with less squares on it so she could earn a prize more quickly but I stuck to my guns on that one…