Houston, we have a package

Everyone has a price... and a currency. The hard part is figuring out what it is.

As I have written about before, Elise has an issue with dropping her kids off at the pool. She potty trained pretty much within a day, but absolutely refused to poop. We talked it over with her doc who told us it was going to become a power struggle, and that Elise would go when ready.

To speed up the process, we resorted to bribery. I was tired of changing giant-sized poopies and shelling out almost $10 for 20 diapers. First, we took her to Target and let her pick out any toy she wanted. We told her that it would be her reward for making poopie on the potty. She seemed excited. I was too.

But when it came to go-time, she refused. She even told us she didn't need any toys. After that we tried money. Yes, my (at the time) two year old was motivated by cold, hard cash. But not, apparently, enough to do the doodie.

Food was not really something we wanted to use, but since we do give her an M&M for behaving during her shots, we tried that. Nope. Finally, I just gave up.

One day I just sort of snapped. There was no reason that my daughter, who knew well enough that she had to poop because she would bring me a diaper and tell me so, should not be able to sit on the potty to do her business. So I told her no more diapers. Then I tried one, final bribe; television.

Elise doesn't really watch TV, not for a lack of effort on her part. I'm just not a fan, especially when I see how she zones out in front of it. But I told her that if she pooped on the potty, she could watch a nuvie (her word for cartoon). She seemed excited. But I didn't get my hopes up.

Then on Tuesday, she announced that she had to make poo-poo, so I told her that there would be no diapers, and she could watch her nuvie when she was done. To my utter surprise, she hopped right on up and went to work. Within 10 minutes, we had a package.

To say there was much rejoicing is an understatement. I laughed. I clapped. I danced. At one point I think I almost started to cry. She seemed rather pleased with herself too.

And then I let her watch two nuvies. You gotta celebrate the first deuce in the toilet in style, you know.