Sanity's Overrated: Pokemon-Loving Boys Evolution Chart

Potty training with Teddy felt like a nightmare. He just didn't seem to be interested and I couldn't find the magic way to make him interested. At the time, he was edging closer to 4 and if he hadn't started using the potty by the beginning of the next school year, he wouldn't be allowed to go to Parents' Day Out. So I cast around for ideas, trying anything that anyone would suggest. But it was Teddy that helped me come up with the idea that stuck.

From the time he was around 3 or so, Teddy was interested in Pokemon. He watched his Dad play on the computer and on his DS, then started playing himself on the computer and the DS. Eventually, he even started playing the CCG (collectible card game), but that came later. He knew stats on most of the pokemon out there, including their evolutions. So it was no surprise that, one day, he asked if he'd eventually evolve into Daddy. "Of course," I told him. "But first, you need to evolve into a Big Boy."

"How do I evolve into a Big Boy?" he asked.

And here is where my inspiration struck. "Well, you need to learn to use the potty. Once you do, you'll use an evolution stone and have the move, 'Potty Master'. Then you'll be a Big Boy."

"Can we get a Potty Stone?" He was pretty excited. So we went to the store and picked out some ceramic monsters that we declared to be Potty Stones. I promised that we'd paint them too. But that got sidelined for awhile and then forgotten as the Potty Stones were misplaced.

When it was time to potty train Pete, the thought of the potty stone was in my mind. I didn't go hard core in trying to train him until school was out for the year and I could focus on it. But when I did, he learned quickly. And Teddy wanted to make sure he got what he was due.

"Pete gets a Potty Stone too, right? It's time for him to evolve into a big boy?"

So this is how I found myself, yesterday afternoon, with three ceramic monsters (because, of course, Mommy needed a potty stone too), two little boys and acrylic paint ready to do some painting. It had been so long since I purchased the paint, though, that most of the colors had dried and were unusable. But there was still enough that we were able to make a game try.

About an hour later, I had two boys very proud of their potty stones (which will be, I'm told, displayed in the bathroom for all to see). The painting on each of them is as individual as each of them.