The Power of the Magical Jelly Belly!

Before we moved from Germany, Toby was almost potty-trained. He had #1 mastered, but still struggled with #2. Once we moved, he was a mess, having accidents, of both kinds, left and right and that was how it was until mid-September, until we moved back into our house and I think he started to feel some sort of normalcy. In other words: he was your typical kid with potty-training and major life changes!

Once we started getting into a routine again, and he had a sense of "where we lived", control over his bowels was no longer a problem. But, it was surprising to find that his desire to stay dry all day had left, even though he had already gotten over that hurdle once.

Day after day, month after month, he would have at least one accident. It became a power struggle for us. For some reason, he decided he did not want to use the toilet, especially if he was asked to. It was most frustrating. I tried every trick in the book. I was open to every single suggestion. Some things would help, some days were better than others. Things improved, but there was still at least one accident a day, usually between 2 and 3 PM. And when he would have an accident, he didn't care--he didn't care if he had the sensation of feeling wet or dry. He would take either. It didn't matter. Which you can imagine, added to my frustration. And after his fourth birthday, in January, I became increasingly frustrated by his bad attitude!

And, then, a few weeks ago, James requested that I buy some Jelly Belly jelly beans. Not for Toby, but for James to snack on. Toby was with me the day that I bought the jelly beans, and he was most intrigued by them. An idea came to me: why not try to use these as incentive for Toby to use the potty? Now, don't get me wrong, I had tried something similar, I had tried M&M's and Skittle's and neither of these helped. But Toby continued to be interested in trying all these colorful jelly beans, so I set the rule that every time he peed in the toilet, he could have two jelly beans! I am THRILLED to report that he has turned a corner! I still have to remember to remind him to use the toilet every few hours, but there isn't a power struggle any longer and very rarely an accident!

Until later,

Emily