[Julie] Princess underpants - What was I thinking?

[Editor's (Tim's) Note: Julie started the post below early this month and then never got a chance to edit/proofread/complete it. Operating under the belief that it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, I've taken an editing pass through the post and am going ahead and pushing it live.]

You would think, that, by the third child, a parent would know better than to utter the following to an as-yet-NOT-potty-trained two-year-old: "If you start going pee-pee on the potty, then you can start wearing princess underpants." Once Alana heard this, she immediately headed to the bathroom, stripped her diaper off and sat on the potty. 2.3 seconds (and no pee-pee) later, she got up and announced that she wanted her princess underpants. Needless to say, that was not something I could deliver, as I had not yet purchased any! Why on earth I thought she would mull over my offer and work toward using the potty -- rather than heading into the bathroom for immediate rewards -- I haven't a clue.

I was able to convince her that she needed to put her diaper back on and that underpants would be forthcoming after we had a chance to go shopping. A few days later, I picked up the underpants, and I decided to try out the cold-turkey approach to potty training. So, one morning earlier this month, Alana got to wear her princess underwear. We started with Cinderella, moved on to Belle, and finally ended up in Jasmine shortly after lunch. Suffice it to say, "cold turkey" was...um...cold. And wet. And yellow. And on the carpet. Several carpet cleanings later, we are back in diapers with the princess underwear awaiting her successful use of the potty.

Alana has started making announcements from the back seat of the car along the lines of, "My bladder's full." Or, "I went potty. In my diaper." We'll see how that plays out.