Yay Zoey!!

Zoey was doing great at staying dry for a long time. Then she had a little setback and started having accidents again. This has happened with all of my kids, but every time, I tell myself that I did it right this time and it won't happen. It always does. So, I somehow have to find an incentive to make it better to go to the bathroom than in their underwear.

With Jo I gave her jelly beans if she was dry and if she wasn't I got to eat the jelly beans. She didn't like me eating her candy, so she would stay dry. I did that until it was natural for her to go in the potty. Owen actually wanted me to share his candy with him, so I couldn't use the jelly bean trick. We made up a chart for him and every time he stayed dry, he got to put a sticker on a chart. When the chart was filled, he got to pick out a Thomas toy (still a big incentive for him).

When Zoey started having accidents, I tried the jelly bean trick and she liked getting the candy, but it didn't seem to bug her if I got the candy, or not. So, a few weeks ago, I decided to try the chart trick with her. Every time she was dry, she got to color a square on her chart (coloring is another favorite thing for her).
A few years ago, we got Backyardigans stuffed animals for the two older kids. We found 4 out of the 5, but we never found Austin. Jo and Owen never seemed to care, but Zoey LOVES Backyardigans and has realized that we don't have them all. When we read her the books or watch a movie, she comments on how we don't have Austin. I found a "Baby Austin" doll on Amazon for about $6.00 and we had our "prize." When her chart was full, she would get her Austin doll. Well, it finally happened!! This morning, Zoey filled her chart. She is so happy and keeps commenting on how she now has ALL the Backyardigans. She's been carrying him around all day.


Of course now that we started the candy thing, she also expects candy when she's dry. We'll need to wean her off that now.