Let me begin by declaring that my daughter Carolyn can now pee-pee on the potty. But there was a stretch there when things weren’t going so well. She thoroughly despised the toilet, our encouragement notwithstanding. We tried many variations, but with no success. Then my clever wife observed that a little story might help move things along. She wrote it, and I was enlisted to illustrate it. In order to take the edge off a little bit, we gave the lead role to one of my daughter’s imaginary friends, Marilyn (Marilyn lives in Carolyn’s mirror).
I can’t really say whether this story made much of a difference, but a few days after it was created, Carolyn no longer needed it. For the record, she liked it, but was disturbed that the mommy on page 6 has no arms. Carolyn’s mom concurs, but I have decided to let the work stand in its original form. Rather than letting it languish under a stack of books, I am publishing it here. Take it, print it, adapt it, go all Peter Max coloring it. Herewith I present: Marilyn and the Potty.
Marilyn and the Potty
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence.
Rambles Blog at Star Chamber 
Very cute. It is always comforting to know that others struggle with similar issue and interesting to hear how they cope. In our case, having two boys, the current issue is ‘aim’ or lack of it. Maybe you could work up a ‘target practice’ version for boys!
I like the monster in the potty :)
We’re having a different problem with Amelia. She sits on the potty for as long as we let her. “I need to go poopie” she’ll say, regardless of the actual state of her large intestine. “I need my piv-at-see, Daddy, I need to go poopie.” [Daddy is not allowed to hang around too close to the bathroom, thereby invading Amelia’s piv-at-see, until she is done.]
Is it true that all blogs end up with parents talking about the potty habits of their kids? Ned, are you in danger of jumping the shark? (or jumping the potty, or pooping on the shark)
–JMike
Wait till you see the super cute pictures of my kitty cat!!
I’m still very much confused by the last panel. I understand rewarding your child for completing her potty training, but why an empty bladder? Is that some sort of New England Colonial thing? Sure, she looks happy playing with it — throwing it into the air and watching it float whistfully down like a minature paratrooper — but why not at least inflate the darned thing so she can kick it around like a soccerball?
The dept of psychiatry at wfubmc chuckles and votes for publication of the wc drama! D