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“Mama! Mama! Look what I got!” I look up as Willow comes flying into the room, pointing to something on her chest.
On closer inspection I see that it’s a small sticker saying ‘good job!” With a thumbs up.
I gasp playfully, “that’s so cool! How did you get that?” Of course I already know the answer since it was partly my idea of rewarding Willow to encourage her to Potty train, but still I want to hear the words from her.
“I went potty!” She exclaims, exactly the type of reaction I wanted.
“You did?” I question back excitedly.
Willow nods “uh huh and daddy said I did good”
“Did he?” I play along, “well I bet you did, good job bug!”
“Thanks mama” she smiles happily at me, rushing into my chest for a hug before quickly racing off again.
—
Of course potty training Willow wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and for every few successful potty going experiences she had, she also had an unsuccessful one.
And those were always hard. Most of the time it was because Willow had realised she needed to go too late, leaving her scrambling to make it to the bathroom and then subsequently leaving a mess on the floor, which was a pain for us to clean up and an emotional event for Willow who was always so upset with herself for not making it.
When we first began potty training and these unsuccessful trips where more common it was brought up that maybe we should take Willow out of her big girl underwear again, letting her try the potty when she could but avoiding the mess when she couldn’t.
Willow wasn’t happy with this though and every morning she would cry when we put her in a diaper over her big girl underwear she was so happy to get.
Eventually after trying this for a bit though we decided to go back to big girl underwear at home, since they were easier to take off meaning more successful attempts again and surprisingly the failed attempts in them were also beneficial, since Willow could actually feel the uncomfortableness of an accident.
Leaving the house however Willow stayed in diapers, or what was similar to one at least. She could still attempt to go if she wanted but with a toilet not readily available on a walk out somewhere we weren’t taking any chances.
—
Slowly over time things became easier, Willow learnt when she needed to go early enough that accidents became so rare we barely saw any anymore.
Still, every time she was successful we all got really excited.
“I think you’re just about ready to graduate to big girl pants full time” I tell her excitedly, high-fiving her after helping her hop off the toilet again.
It’d been probably a month or so since we last saw an accident from her, including when leaving the house.
I help her up onto the sink to first help her wash her hands and mine as well, then I pull out her sticker book.
“Not many left” I comment as I hold it out to her so she can pick one out, Willow quickly points to one that has a picture of a cat on it and says ‘Purrific’ I pull it off the sheet and hand it over to her to put on her shirt. “Won’t need them anymore though will we?”
Willow shakes her head but then frowns, “but what will I get when I go potty?”
I frown, about to tell her she doesn’t need rewards anymore now that she’s all but mastered the skill, but that seems counter intuitive.
“Hmm” I ponder, “how about once all your stickers are gone, if you can go a whole week without an accident you can have a cookie”
Willow quickly nods, thankfully too young to realise with her daddy a baker and me being who I am she’s likely to get many cookies anyway, regardless whether reward or not.
Smiling I help her off the counter again and watch as she races out of the room again.
A moment later I can hear her talking excitedly to Peeta, presumably showing him her sticker, still super excited by the reward despite getting the same thing multiple times a day now. I think I then hear her telling him about my promise of her getting a cookie as reward instead and I try to imagine what his reaction will be to this.
But I don’t have to imagine for long because I follow after Willow, making my way into the kitchen where Peeta is studiously preparing dinner, or had been until Willow came to talk with him.
Willow races off again shortly after I arrive, presumably going to go play and Peeta looks up at me briefly, sharing with me a curious smile.
“So we’re moving on to cookies then?” He asks amusedly.
I shrug, “well I had to come up with something, she doesn’t really need a reward anymore but I can’t very well say that can I?”
Peeta looks up again from his work to share with me another amused smirk.
“Well she doesn’t, and I’m done with the stickers at the very least. If you think about it she’s not really getting anything more than she already would, I mean we give her cookies all the time it’s just the reason why we’re giving them to her has changed”
Peeta nods, “yeah I guess that makes sense”
We both fall into a brief moment of silence after that, Peeta continuing to work on dinner and me watching him.
That is until we hear a loud meow and hiss from the other room, followed by a cry from Willow, an exclamation of “bad kitty” following shortly after.
Peeta and I share a quick look before racing towards the sound of the commotion.
I don’t know what I was expecting to find but it’s not this.
“What happened Willow?” I lean over to scoop her up into my arms, she looks a little shaken, a bit upset but overall unharmed, Buttercup thankfully knows not to scratch Willow but he’s not above giving her a good scare every once and a while.
She points to buttercup, who in the meantime has aggressively started washing and I know why when I notice the sticker Willow just received for going potty is now clinging to his scruffy orange fur.
“Buttercup went potty” she tells me through hiccups and disjointed letters she’s still learning to say, she buries her head into my shoulder.
I put two and two together, “baby” I begin softly, “buttercup doesn’t get the same kind of rewards you do when going potty, he doesn’t like sticky things touching his fur”
As I speak to Willow, Peeta eases the sticker off of Buttercups back, he doesn’t take the help too well but it’s Peeta and Buttercup at least trusts him enough to know he means well, so he doesn’t put up much of a fight.
“What rewards does he get?” Willow asks curiously.
“Well” I think about it for a moment, “he likes getting little scraps of meat or scratches on the head”
In demonstration Peeta scratches buttercups head, Buttercup quickly purrs at the contact, now so much more happy with the sticker off of him.
Willow giggles, “can I reward him?”
I nod gently lowering her back down to her feet, “be gentle though”
Willow nods as she moves over to Buttercup, gently beginning to pat the top of Buttercups head, similar to what she saw her dad doing.
Buttercup’s purrs become even louder increasing Willow’s delight, he then begins to walk circles around her as she sits on the floor in front of him, eventually allowing him to sit on her lap.