Micah once again...

  Today I had a conversation with Micah about him not wanting to potty in the toilet. (I'm getting very frustrated with him as he is 3, knows how, can do it if he wants to, but refuses.  Two in diapers is expensive!!)  Anyways, he is really liking puzzles right now, and can do the 24 or 25 piece ones all by himself.  Last week at the dollar store we hit the puzzle gold mine!  I found 19 different puzzles he can do.  I decided these would be the new "potty prizes" he could earn.  (We've tried everything from toys to treats with no success.)  He was so excited to see all the different kinds: Toy Story, Cars, Winnie the Pooh, Spiderman, etc.  I thought it would motivate him....WRONG!  He still doesn't really care.  He talks about earning them and has gotten two stickers in the row towards earning one, but it's still not enough to push him over this rut.  I was reading my friend Heather's blog about how easy it was to train her 2 year old daughter and how she hid the diapers in the closet so they wouldn't be a crutch.  I started thinking that maybe that was what Micah was doing.  Diapers are just easier.  Back to my conversation with him now that you have all the background info. :)  I was getting him dressed after his shower--he actually pottied in the toilet before showering--and was talking about earning enough stickers to fill a row and asked him if he would start being a big boy and go in the toilet.  He said, "yes", and I said, "really?"  He said, "Nah, I'll just use my diapers."  I kept my cool and asked him, "What if your diapers were all gone?  Then what would you do?"  He just shrugged his shoulders.  I told him, "You'll have to wear big boy pants." "No!"  "Then what are you going to do if all your diapers are gone?  You aren't going to go on my couch or on the carpet. So what are you going to do?"  He scrunched up his face (man, I wish I had a picture of that face!) and said through clenched teeth, "I'll have to go in the potty!"  It was the funniest thing! I'm still laughing over that face he made!  I'm seriously thinking we'll give this new tactic a try. 
  Tonight as we were getting kids in their PJs, I asked Eli to get me a diaper.  He brought me one of Micah's.  I said, "Look Micah, you still have one diaper left!" To which he exclaimed with a punched fist in the air, "YES!" Eli kept bringing me diapers, some were his, some were Micah's.  I think by the end there were 10 of Micah's diapers in my lap.  Every few I'd give Micah an update on how many he had in the diaper box to which he'd give a "woo-hoo! or a "yeah!!"  That was pretty funny too.  I told Micah that he only had 10 diapers left and asked what he was going to do when they were gone to which he answered kind of deflated, "Go in the potty."  I think this actually might just work!  Heather, thanks for putting the idea in my head--every child is different, you'd think after doing this three times already I'd have it down--not so my friends! :) Hopefully one more will be checked off soon!