Cinderella Is Potty Training My Kid

My daughter is 2 and is Cinderella obsessed.  She can not pass by an item with a Disney princess on it without commenting, touching, holding, and ultimately begging for said item.  (Brilliant marketing, Walt.)  She knows the names of all of the Disney princesses, but Cinderella is by far her favorite due to some perfect combination of talking animals, magic and shoes.  (All very important things to my particular 2 year old.)

Not so long ago my daughter was more of a Curious George and Yakari girl.  But then something happened, and I believe it started with the pink princess overnight bag.  I needed a kiddy piece of luggage intended for fun instead of our standard no-nonsense travel gear.  My daughter was going to stay with Oma while the parents had some long due adult time.  My criteria for this bag were fun and cheap, so I went to the cheapest place I could think of and found I had two options.  Not wanting Pooh Bear (I can’t stand Pooh) my only other option was a pink rolly deal with three princesses framed in a heart.  I was excited it had a moon shaped reflector.  My daughter ogled over the beautiful posing princesses.

My daughter looked at those princesses with pure fascination.  “Who’s this”, she’d ask.  “That one’s Belle, that one’s Cinderella, and that one’s Sleeping Beauty”, I told her.  This went on repetitively for a few days until she could remember who was who and say their names almost perfectly.  And then not long after that I made the ultimate mistake and bought Snow White.

Snow White for a 2 year old is pretty scary.  Snow White for a, well, me, is super cheesy and I cringe to think I might have to watch it again.  Ultimately, what Snow White did was reinforce a love of princesses, which brought us around to Cinderella.

I wanted to watch a movie, which for me is a pretty rare treat simply because I’m usually so tired at the end of the day I could care less.  But I wanted a movie on this particular day and took my daughter with me to the DVD store to see what I could find, and of course promised my daughter she could pick a movie out as well.  We walked down the aisles of kids DVDs.  My daughter touched almost every DVD cover and I followed behind trying to keep the place organized.  And that’s when she saw her.  “CINDERELLA”, she cried out, pointing a finger at that particular DVD.  “Is this the one you want”, I asked, like there was even any question.

We watched Cinderella that night, and then again the next day, and it became her favorite game to play for weeks after.  I watched as my daughter danced around pretending to dance with the prince, babble away to a team of stuffed animals about a pumpkin and a mouse, and jump around the house yelling “Bibbity, bobbity BOO”!!  She would put on her princess skirt and tell me about the fairy Godmother.  She would fall asleep in said skirt, sneaking it on in the dark after I had put her to bed.  She would run around the living room in her sparkle shoes and loose one occasionally.  And my favorite: she ran up to me one day as I was cleaning, threw her arms around me, patted my back and said, “Oh, Cinderelly, Cinderelly.  It’s OK.  Don’t cry”.

And before long I found I was buying plastic princess cups and plates, stickers, clothing, magnets, lip balm, you name it.  If it had a Disney princess on it and my daughter could somehow convince me (definition: be so dang cute I couldn’t say no) then it’s found its way into our house.  And lately I’ve been using it as bargaining power.

My daughter is a 2 year old perfectionist.  She doesn’t like getting things wrong, and will keep herself from doing things until she knows she can get it right.  For example, when she trips and falls her coping mechanism is to lay on the floor like she meant to be there, start snoring and pretend to be asleep.  So when it came around to potty training, and she was becoming aware and wanting to try it out, I had to come up with something that made making a mistake OK, and Bibbity Boobity Boo!  a green bag filled with princess paraphernalia appeared, heavy on the Cinderella.  So now, when my daughter sees a 2 Euro trinket she thinks she can’t live without, I buy it, and it goes into the green bag for the next time she wants to try using the potty.  I don’t have to push, and my daughter can decide when she is ready, and at the end she gets a little Cinderella.  And you know what?  It’s working.

We just went through half a day in princess panties, with no accidents and a whole lotta reassurance that yes, in fact she can get it right.  The proud look in her eyes and the swish in her waltz says it all.  And while I realize things can easily take a step back, that 2×2 inch Cinderella magnet will always be treated like a piece of gold.  (It’s currently under her pillow as she sleeps.)