Props to Miranda

Miranda is now potty-trained! We used last week’s three-day weekend to buckle down and try potty-training Miranda again. Bernard took Eleanor out all morning and Miranda and I holed up in the house with the potty. This time, I knew she understood the whole concept, so I didn’t use the potty-training doll or go through the steps of what she needed to do. I put her in underwear, we said “Bye-bye” to the diapers, and I loaded her up with juice.

The trick was M&Ms and television. Last time, she just didn’t want to sit on the potty long enough to pee (basically no more than ten seconds). This time, I had the potty in the family room in front of the TV. I asked her to sit there every 20 minutes for five minutes. Finally, the fourth time she sat down, she started peeing. She had a look of astonishment on her face and started yelling, “I did it! I did it!” I gave her a lot of praise and one M&M, which made her even more excited. Note: we avoided giving her any M&Ms for more than three months to maximize their effect.

I told her she would get an M&M every time she peed in the potty and it turned out to be an incredible motivator. The final test was school. At school, they can’t give M&Ms. (I guess they’re considered hard candy and therefore, a choking hazard.) So I brought her to daycare with five pairs of underwear and pants, Hello Kitty stickers, and a bag of gummy fruit snacks. Well, she did even better than Eleanor. She went an entire week without a single accident.

Miranda goes to the preschool class in the late afternoon now that Eleanor is there the whole day. They haven’t talked to me about transitioning her yet since it usually takes the toddlers a couple months after starting potty-training to be fully ready to go to the preschool, but Miranda is really eager to move ahead. Yesterday, when I picked them up, Miranda said, “Look, I in preschool! With Eleanor!” And she patted Eleanor on the head. I’ll be happy when they’re together in the same class again.