Bribery

This is definitely a Mommy Quest for sure. For the longest time Junior has whole heartedly refused to be potty trained.  We've bought one potty, inherited a relative's plastic one (in excellent and brand new condition) and one that slips over a regular toilet for the seat.  We've bought a kid's training book that even has a flushing toilet sound bit on it in hopes of making going "like a big boy" on the potty more fun. 

Me: "Want to go on the potty?"
Kiddo: "Nope!"
[He then promptly runs away screaming like it's a game].

In short, he just has zero interest.

Until now.

Bribery. Bribery is the only way I see working at the moment, but if we aren't careful it's going to get pricey. How are we bribing? Hot Wheel Cars. My Mom who lives wayyyy over in Wisconsin sent a box of goodies for the family, and one small box of precious bribing material of toy cars.  Kiddo saw them (doh! he found them, I was trying to keep them hidden!) and wanted to open them up.

Me: "No, no, no. These are rewards for when you go pee-pee and poo-poo on the potty."

I nearly fell over when he ran to the potty and lifted the lid and sat down. *JAW DROPS* What is this? Do I have a viable bribery here? Is he seriously interested in using the training toliet?!? OMG, I thought, THIS IS THE MOMENT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!  *wipes tear away* Oh, it's been a long road for sure, to get to this point.  Of course he still needs to know in advance that he 'has to go' and not sit on the toilet AFTER he just went in his diaper.  That's the trick to this all. No potty, no car toy.

But, this is only day #2 in the adventure of some serious potty training. I've seen him run to the toilet more in the last two days than he has in the last 8 months. No joke. I've put the box of brand new car toys on top of our t.v. set with the words "Potty Rewards" writen on it. He sees it and keeps asking for a toy, but now he knows very well when he's going to get them.

I've gotten advice from a good amount of people on this subject, and I'm one of those easy going kind of Moms when it comes to this issue. He's not going to be in diapers forever, one day he'll get it.  I do give kudos to parents who were able to get their kid trained quickly, but their smug pride about it is rather rude.  "I've gotten my toddler trained in two days and they were only two years old." If I hear that inflection one more time, I swear...

I have entertained the idea of having junior run around butt naked over at Grandma/Grandpa's house with only a loincloth on and let him go eu naturale. An aquaintance mentioned that they did away with diapers one day and had towels at the ready (I did this. I don't recommend it. Pee everywhere, it's a messy tactic. DON'T DO IT!)

Kids are the ones who basically will let the parent know when they are ready. Junior here is getting close. I think the bribery thing may work, but it's still a work in progress.

Remember [aside to kiddo]: "Don't stand in the potty. That's were all the yuck-yuck goes. If you stand in that, it would be just gross!" Thank God the potty was empty!