The Trough of Disillusionment

"Diaper backward spells repaid.  Think about it."
                                    -- Marshall Mcluhan

I'm in no rush for Cheeky to get older, but that doesn't stop us from gently encouraging her that some baby habits are worth breaking.  We've done a piss-poor job on the night-time pacifier and the morning bottle, but she's been studying in Defecation 101 and the other day it looked like she was ready for the final exam. 

Oodgie buys potty's the same way she buys shoes:  in bulk, with commitments to return most of them.  By my count we have at least three, none of which have been used for their intended purpose.  It's not for lack of trying; almost every activity includes tagging a potty like it was first-base.  Unfortunately every activity seems to be at least a double, if not an in-field home run, so there's not much lingering over the bowl.

That changed last week, though, when Oodgie finally convinced Cheeky it was time to try the "big girl potty."  The event, as related to me, went something like this.

1. Cheeky decides it's time to go potty
2. Cheeky uses her stool to climb onto the toilet
3. Cheeky instructs Oodgie to leave the room
4. Once she has privacy, Cheeky pees in the toilet
5. Cheeky climbs down, presumably to bask in her success
6. Cheeky poops on floor
7. Panic (sans the disco)

What has unfolded since then is classic hype-cycle.  Having reached the Peak of Inflated Expectations, Cheeky immediately plummeted into the Trough of Disillusionment, in which even mentioning the toilet creates shrieks which throw birds off their migration patterns. 

This leaves us at the infinitely more frustrating delicate stage, the Slope of Enlightenment.  We need to overcome her newly-minted fear/embarrassment with ever-more-creative ways to lure her onto the potty.  I've considered painting it to look like Dora (the bowl is the approximate shape of her head), coating it in chocolate (too easily confused with something else), and turning it into a game in which we pretend the toilet is our car and she's a pigeon.  I'm confident the Plateau of Productivity is still right around the corner.

Although I don't know why I'm in any hurry to hear, "Daddy, I have to go poddy" and pulling over every ten minutes.  Sometimes I think having the freedom to drop a load whenever/wherever you want has its advantages...

 

Comments

[toonakat]

I simply CANNOT WAIT to go through that circus called potty training. Ironically speaking, of course.

[p-man]

It's not my floor and since we've been through the pot-thing v.1 I can say this without remorse: that's the funniest trying to help my kid crap in the can post I have read.

[douglas]

We still have the AM and PM bottle working at our house, so don't feel bad. We, too, are precariously close to the same exercise - over the weekend I realized Poppy has her own words for #1 and #2. Time to try the variety of "seats" I suppose.

[the weirdgirl]

Have you tried bribery? 'Cause I'm fully planning on using the power of bribery to it's fullest. (And I kind of want to see if it's worked for someone else.)