Victory! (Um, victory?)

Mabel got a new baby yesterday. "What, woman?" you ask. "Have you no sense? Have you no willpower? Have you an infinite amount of space in your house - and your heart, [sob] - for more babies? When will you say no?"

Don't worry. This was a special baby. This was her potty-training sticker-chart baby.

Some time back in January or so, I had a brainwave. Which I didn't even mention here, for fear of having to eat my words yet again. I told Mabel that when she saved me enough money on pullups by wearing underpants, we could spend that money on a baby. Some rough calculations led me to believe that if a box of Pampers at Target costs $20, then half a box costs $10. (With me so far?) And there were many attractive babies in the toy aisles that could be purchased for such a price. Including the one Mabel had just set her heart on.

It appeared that she was using about three pullups a day (night-time was off the table at this point). So to save 30 pullups, or half a box, should take only about ten days of solid underpantsing. It worked like magic for five days, but then the novelty started to fade. She'd wear underwear at school and then not take off her naptime pullup all afternoon. I let it slide, especially as we were off to Ireland and I really didn't want to try getting her to go commando on a plane or during days of jetlag again. Every now and then she'd wear underpants for a whole morning or a whole afternoon, and we'd add a sticker to the chart.

At some point during our trip away, I think, she started pooing in the toilet whether she was wearing a pullup or not. I was, you can imagine, pretty happy about this development. We were given some hand-me-down (but very clean) underpants from a friend, and Mabel suddenly loved them. Hey, whatever it takes.

So on Friday, the last sticker went into its place on the chart, and Mabel was pronounced officially potty trained. We went to Target yesterday morning and she's now the devoted mother/big sister of Princess Bonny, who came with a tiara and a "baby list" (that is, an ad for all the other baby princesses you can buy). She's meant to be Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty, but Mabel says (scathingly) that Sleeping Beauty doesn't have a tiara, and she thinks Bonny is a prettier name. Take that, Disney Corporation.

She's also wearing a pullup right now, and plotting her next sticker chart. Clearly, I have triumphed.