Nice Try.

Cael spent about two and a half days steadfastly refusing to poop. The result was a lot of screaming, a lot of crying, a lot of discomfort and a lot of mess.

During this standoff, I may have made a number of promises.

"If you poop now, you can have ice cream for dinner!"

"If you poop now, we can go to the store and buy you a dinosaur!"

"If you poop now, you can go have corn dogs with Grandma T and Grandpa Paul!"

"If you poop now, you can eat my giant chocolate chip cookie that I've been saving! You can have the whole thing!"

None of these bribes worked. They didn't even give him a moment's pause. In the end, it was the pain and suffering that broke him.

He totally should have opted for the dinosaur instead.

Now, a few days later, these promises are coming back to him. Somehow he's convinced himself that they applied to all poops at all times. He hops on the toilet, does his business, hops off and proclaims, "Now it's time for corn dogs!" Or he sees my cookie on the counter and grabs it, informing me, "I get to eat this now because I pooped last morning."

I can't tell if he really doesn't get it or if he's just hoping I really don't get it.

Probably the latter.