So, the benefit of having a child who is “adaptable” and “distractible” (according to at least one expert, and to a book I’d read with a questionnaire) is that one can pretty much just stop talking about charts and prizes and poof. All gone.
He’s still into stickers. There aren’t any more “tries” without “dos” so the whole sticker-for-trying thing is over. He just gets one at each potty. Every time. (Unless he forgets to ask for it.) And sticks it on his shirt, till it falls off. And gets lost — and later, many stickers later — found with great delight, and lost again. It’s like Easter all over our house, or a treasure hunt.
There’s a piece of paper taped to the door where the old chart used to be. Part of Chart 2.0 that Scott had started while discussing with Jonah that we hadn’t decided what prize the chart was for. So there’s no lines. Just a blank piece of paper. Every once in a while, Jonah puts a sticker on it. Once the piece of paper is full, he may make some kind of demand. I’ll cross that trestle when I get to it.
Meantime, we’re happy with his progress. He is quite alarmed and unhappy when he has accidents, so for now we’re not penalizing (no pun intended) him for them. Sooner or later, if need be, we’ll introduce the idea of pulling off a day or succession of days with no accidents, and then introduce a new chart and prize then.
He’s pleased with his progress, too. We still often get a little dance after a good potty. And he often likes to point out his successes: “Mommy, I knew I needed to go potty and I did it BY MYSELF!”