Many moons ago, I implemented a reward for my kids during their potty training expeditions. The disclaimer was that it wasn't for 'peeing' but for the big one, the one that makes a mess and stinks really bad. If you know me, you know how much I hate poop. So it is worth every penny and my time to take them to the local 7-11 for a lusciously cold slurpee that consists of a sample of 40 flavors just so they will have tons of encouragement to put the poo where it is suppose to go.
Now in theory, my plan was to take them once a week but somehow it got all scrambled up in their minds to where they think this should be a daily occurrence. In a perfect world where sugar isn't an issue and neither is my bank account, that would be fun but reality is reality. We shoot for once a week but sometimes life is busy and we don't get there for two.
With all that has gone on over the last year, we've had some hurdles to overcome with our now four year old. She is now potty trained. It took about 2 days and boy, does she love the slurpee reward! So off to the slurpee shop we go. However, I have an 8 year old and a 6 year old that think that reward was instituted for life. Since everyone has been extremely helpful this past week, I took three of the younger ones all at the same time.
Now boys will be boys and once we got to the 7-11, they bolted out of the car like a bullet. This is not what they are suppose to do but the desire for this cool treat must have erased from their minds, the rules we have in place. I must admit that it takes a few minutes for my four year old to get out of the car. She has to unbuckle her seat belt, then she climbs in the driver's seat along with taking a few minutes to inspect everything. You just never know what treasure you'll find in the car. She has to come out my side of the vehicle every time. Why you ask? Because she loves me and she wants to go wherever I go. Waiting for her just takes too much time for two rascally boys.
Did you know that it's very hard for a four year old girl to make a decision on what cup she wants? While I was trying to encourage her to decide on one, my 8 year old had grabbed his cup, placed the dome lid on and had placed his under the blue slurpee spout turning it full on. Blue slurpee spurted out everywhere. I mean everywhere...on the floor, filled the disposal tray under it, coated the top of it and covered his hand that was holding the cup..did I mention the floor?? Do you think we were the only ones getting slurpee's? No, nope, noway. There was a line behind us because everyone else had the same idea of taking their kids there. I could almost hear the 'sigh's' escaping the mouths of the parents behind me. We almost got ran out of town!
After I cleaned up the mess, apologized profusely to the line of people behind me, got the kids their slurpee treats, reminded them about waiting for me and not leaving my side, we paid for these delectable treats and managed somehow to get back in the car. All of the sudden, I was feeling very, very tired. What if I curled up in the back seat for just a few moments. Do you think anyone would notice me sucking my thumb?? Instead, I opted for driving these cute little ones home. As I looked in my rear view mirror, I saw lots of smiles and heard lots of giggling as they were sucking down their treats. I see why God made children so cute. They can turn your clenched teeth into a laugh very quickly. Their giggles were my reward! I can't wait till next week....
