After I got so many comments and e-mails all saying ‘go for it!’ following my first potty training post, I asked Alethea if she’d like me to get her a potty chair so she could learn to use the toilet by herself.  She said, “Okay!”  (And yes, I am taking that with a grain of salt.  I also asked her if she’d like an Oompaloompa to go with it and her answer was, “Okay!”)

Anyway, today during my weekly trip to Target, I stopped by the baby section to look at potty chairs.  Now I was hoping there would be two or three to choose from.  What I wasn’t prepared for was having a dozen styles sitting before me on the shelf:

My options ranged from just a simple plastic lift-out bowl in a simple plastic seat, to chairs with lots of bells and whistles.  Suddenly I was confronted with choices I hadn’t even dreamed of prior to walking down that aisle.  Did I want the seat to lift off and sit on the grownup toilet to make the transition to big toilet easier?  Did I want the base to convert into a step-stool?  Did I want the potty to look like a frog, a racecar, a throne, or of all things, a toilet?  Many played music, a couple had padded seats, a few sported toilet paper holders…

I was overwhelmed.

Then I asked myself what would be most appealing to Alethea?  The answer was clearly, this one:

It plays music, has a handle to ‘flush’ and even tells you when you’ve done a good job.  Yeah, I was pretty sure Alethea would like it.  So, I was going to buy it, even though it was the most expensive one and it didn’t convert into a step stool (which seemed like a nice feature for when Alethea was ready to move up to using the real toilet).  But then I looked at the box a little closer and noticed this:

That’s right folks.  It doesn’t just play music, it has “Encouraging songs with lyrics and fun phrases”!

Suddenly in my mind’s eye, I caught a glimpse of Alethea singing those lyrics and repeating those fun phrases in a public place.  Lovely.

The ‘Cheer for Me! Potty’ went back on the shelf.

I ended up selecting this one instead:

It is the Royal Stepstool Potty, which was $10 cheaper than the Cheer For Me model, and as the name implies, it does convert to a stepstool to prolong its usefulness.  Plus Alethea will be rewarded for ‘contributions’ with “regal musical ditties and fun sound effects”, which sounded a lot safer to me than “encouraging lyrics”.

I think I made the right choice.  Alethea is still taking her nap, so she hasn’t gotten to weigh in on the matter yet, but really… who needs a retractable toilet paper holder anyway??!?!