a tale of two potties

Three potties, really.

There are many great things about having a toddler in St. John's, but shopping isn't one of them. There are only four places in town to buy potties, and all of them consistently carry expensive, bulky ones that sport flashy colours or require batteries so that they play music. Not really what I wanted for Madeline's introduction to potty-learning. What I wanted was the small, unassuming Baby Bjorn Little Potty (but cheaper - they certainly don't cost a mere ten bucks in Canada).

I found a lovely Bjorn-esque potty at one of my formerly fave diapering shops in Ottawa. Actually, I found a "for for $26" deal, and I thought that was fabulous, considering that the house we're in has two floors. So I ordered on May 16. Found out that they were out-of-stock a couple days later, but expected in two weeks. Emailed to check on the status of my order on June 8th. Called the shop to get the scoop on June 15th. The proprietor told me that the potties still weren't in stock, and then told me that it would be cheaper anyway to buy a Bjorn potty because of the shipping charge to Newfoundland. Yeah. If I could find a Bjorn potty here. I'm not sure if my feelings are justified, but that conversation really irritated me. I ended up sending an email to cancel my order on June 15th.

Then, I ordered an authentic Little Potty from this place in Vancouver, after doing a bit of research on pricing and shipping costs (I did find out a few days later that I could have got it for less out of the States, but usually things don't work out that way for me). I received an electronic receipt at the time of order, and I received a credit card receipt today via snail-mail. Only the shipping charge on my credit card receipt is four dollars more! Gah! I've sent an email to the store, and now I've pretty much concluded that this whole potty-learning exercise is doomed even without any participation from Madeline.

Comments

[Jaime]

What do people do there for pottys?? I got just a normal, hum drum one for Nikyla, it worked. It is a potty it self and the top comes off to go on the regular toilet. I keep on in the truck so if we are driving I can always pull over and she went in that.
Did they say anything about the $4 more?

[September]

I've had great luck with http://www.babyproofingplus.com/cat131_1.htm

Fast shipping to Newfoundland, great service, and sometimes they even offer free shipping. I ordered my son's Baby Bjorn potty chair from there, as well as my older son's Parkway and other items.

[laura]

I actually looked there, September. They came out to $1 more than the store I did order from. Well, before I was charged an extra $4 for shipping, anyway ...

Jaime, there are potties available here, but one ones I've seen in person are kind of flashy, like this: http://www.toysrus.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&catalogId=10052&langId=-1&productId=49507 Even at Wal-Mart, though maybe they were just sold out of plain ones at the time.

[Jaime]

Well good luck with the potty training!