Let's make a deal

We've entered a new phase in parenting Andy.  Bargaining.  Sometimes it makes me feel like a used car salesman; I present an offer (eat your green beans and I'll give you some kiwi), he accepts, and what I deliver falls short of what I apparently promised.  I give him only measley piece of kiwi, in exchange for a big mouthful of green beans. Its a win-win, really; don't tell Andy, but both green beans and kiwi are good for him. So I don't let my deception of an innocent child get to me.  Even last night, as he was making faces as he chewed his green beans.  You would have thought they'd be dipped in nail polish remover the way he scrunched up that little face.  But he kept eating them, and I kept giving him a piece or two of kiwi.

We're also bargaining with this whole potty training business.  Enough is enough.  I'm tired of buying so many diapers.  And being kicked by a rambuctious little boy when I try to change a diaper.  So now he gets an M circle (again - the sleazy used car salesman approach.  One M&M for pee-peeing on the potty?!?) when he pee pees on the potty.  This has been a successful approach, like it is for all other mothers who have done it before me.  There's a reason everyone uses M&M's in potty training - it clearly works.  My lavish praise wasn't doing the job; before, I'd have to wrestle him onto the potty and he'd do everything he could to keep that little hiney off the potty.  So there we'd be, Andy, Mama and Elizabeth in the bathroom.  Elizabeth entertaining herself by climbing into the bathtub, while Mama tries to figure out how get that taunt little boy body to bend to sit on the potty.  Its amazing how straight and stiff and resistant those 30 pounds could be. 

But now.  Now with the M&Ms, he runs to the potty and tries so hard to pee, even when the tank is clearly empty. 

My next feat will be teaching him how to know when its time to go, instead of just being excited when Mama suggests pee-peeing on the potty.  I'm open to suggestions on this one.  The pant-less route is not working right now; Andy could care less if he pees on himself, the floor, the furniture.  It merely forces him to pause for a second as he watches the steady stream and then he's off, back to his race cars or trains or what have you.  So we might just try the M&M route for a bit, and then re-visit the no pants time in a few months. 

I'm just holding my breath for when the bargaining backfires, and he starts to re-negiotate the terms of our agreement.  That day is coming, I'm sure.