Little Bladders

Can I tell you how grateful I am that gas stations have restrooms? I don't know what we would have done without them. (This is not a commentary on how I wish they were cleaner, that's a different post!) I do feel bad for how many restrooms we used though without buying anything.

Stephanie was barely potty trained (for the fourth time I might add) when it was time for our trip to Yellowstone. Oh boy. So we set up a system for her where she gets a sticker for every day she's dry night and day and then after she gets 20 stickers she gets a cinderella carriage toy she really wants. She was set to get it right after the trip, which helped a lot for motivating her through the trip.

Problem is, I've been giving her Swedish fish or gummy bears whenever she goes potty. As you can imagine, after months of this, she's used to going potty every 15 minutes just so she can get another treat. I've been putting up with it because I'm desperate (the kid is 4 1/2 already!). I didn't realize the repercussions though.

So when you're driving from Utah through Idaho to Wyoming there are not a lot of restrooms. Every restroom in Yellowstone is about 45 minutes apart. Needless to say, we had a lot of potty stops. Everywhere we went, the first question was, "Where are the restrooms?"

It got so bad that Sara Megan and I took to playing rock paper scissors to see who had to take them next (usually someone else had to go too) and arguing over who did it last time. By the end of the trip I was referring to Mandy and Stephanie as "the little bladders". Goodness.

The only good news is that she's still potty trained and doing well, loves playing with her cinderella toy, and is back to eating copious amounts of gummy bears.

Even Costco bags of treats don't last forever, so hopefully some day they'll dry up and she'll wean off of the sugar--and hopefully stay potty trained too!