The Cat's Out of the Bag (or box)

At Christmas time, Walmart had some cats in the toy department that meowed, blinked their eyes, twitched their ears, and did nearly everything else but cough up a hairball.  They're a little bit freaky, kind of like Pet of Chucky. Riley loved these cats so we had to go see them every time we stopped by the store. They were rather pricey so there wasn't one under the Christmas tree, but there were a few left in January that went on sale. I bought one for Riley in the hopes that I could persuade her to use the potty. We named the cat Mr. Tinkles and left him in his box in a conspicuous place with the promise that he could come out and play when Riley was potty trained. Poor Mr. Tinkles sat in his box for six months until this week when he was finally liberated by a proud little three year old. 

I've decided that most of the potty training experts are idiots. I tried everything I could find to potty train Riley (except the "let your child run around naked" method which is only practical if every surface in your home is covered in linoleum.) While the articles I read said not to push the reluctant (or willful) potty trainee, after a year of attempts I decided to employ my own method. I call it the "You will pee in the potty because Mommy said so" method. This involved a lot of of screaming (Riley, not me) and cleaning up bodily fluids for five days. On the sixth day, Riley realized that the diapers were really gone for good and started using the potty. On the seventh day, Mommy rested - OK, Mommy never really gets a rest.

 

Riley has done great. She's only had two accidents in the last week. I still have her in pull-ups at night, but she seems to think these are underwear. When I got her up the other morning, she saw some of Colin's diapers sitting close by and got concerned. She said, "Don't put a diaper on me. I'm a big girl. Diapers are for babies." Music to my ears, especially since I'd repeatedly told her the week before, "You don't wear diapers anymore. You're a big girl. Diapers are for babies." I have successfully brainwashed my child. 

Colin has had a really good week. He's still just as ornery as ever but he's doing better at accepting the boundaries in the house. There is a side table in the living room that is off limits to him. It has a lamp, the baby monitors, and some of Riley's book on it. He likes to try to get his hands on these things when my back is turned. On Friday, Colin and I came downstairs after nap time while Riley remained in her room for a few minutes for disobedience. Colin immediately went for the forbidden table. I gave him a raised eyebrow, and he smiled his devilish grin and retreated. I headed for the kitchen, and he went for the table again. Just as his little fingers brushed Riley's monitor, Riley was overcome with the injustice of her punishment and let out a gut-wrenching scream that scared Colin right off his feet. For the next fifteen minutes he clung to my neck. He hasn't tried to touch the monitors since. Perhaps this week I should put the monitor in one of the kitchen cupboards and get Riley to yell again. 

Colin really loves doing high fives and "knock the rock." Today, Hobbes, the cat, was sitting on the back of a chair when Colin walked by and gave him a little poke. For once, Hobbes responded and took a swipe at his hand. Colin interpreted this a high five and squealed with delight. He went on to give the cat alternating high fives and fist bumps which were returned with more swipes from an increasingly irritated Hobbes. I wish I would have had a video camera rolling.

And now I'll leave you with a couple Riley quotes. 

Me: Hey, there's a great big tree trunk sitting in Buehlers' parking lot. Where did that come from?

Riley: It came from a tree, Mom.

Jeff (at a restaurant): Riley, Let me know if you need to go potty. They have a potty here.

Riley (wide-eyed):There's potties EVERYWHERE!