Pennies for Potty

Our potty training days have become much more structured (can you say "structured" and "potty training" in the same sentence without causing a crack in the universe somewhere?) since we have started a little thing called bribery...ah, I mean... monetary inspiration. We got an old jar, and every time Griffin goes #2 in the potty, we add 2 pennies to the jar, and then he dumps them out and counts them to see what the new total is.

So far he has 29 pennies in the jar (he had one taken away when he did a #2 in his underwear), and I have been slacking since I haven't been feeling well (stomach virus of some kind, I assume), but we have been telling him that when he gets 30 pennies in the jar, we will make a special trip to the gas station and let him pick out his very own candy. He has been going on and on about "potato candy" whatever that is, and he knows that is what he will choose. This gas station has a row of candy on the bottom for 10-15 cents each, so he will be able to pick 2 or 3 pieces. Fun for Griffin!

We don't give him anything for #1 during the day, but he gets 2 more pennies if he stays dry at night. He has that one down pat. Forget Pull-Ups, we skipped those completely. I just told him one day that he was a big boy and needed to go in the potty at night if he had to go, and we walked him step by step through the path to the potty at night, making sure it was lit with nightlights at the appropriate places. He has had a couple of accidents, but as he is the first child, he really wants everything to go the way HE wants it to, and wet underwear is not in his plan. (I'm not saying middle children are dirty, they just don't seem to care about this stuff quite so much, plus it gets them attention, and what could be better than that for a middle-born?)

Well, I just know you all have thoroughly enjoyed this invigorating discussion, but such is the fabric (pun intended) of our lives these days.