Toilet Training in Less Than a Day

Many of you have read a partial review I gave this book already. I really think this book had a lot of great ideas about potty training in it. Before I read it, I had no idea where to start or what to do. This book at least made me think about my own strategy for teaching Scooter this vital life skill.
The book was written in the 70's and is in serious need of an updated version. The forward to the book includes many phrases for handicapped children that are politically incorrect in this day and age. It was a bit offensive.
The organization of the book was scattered and hard to follow. The other thing that really bothered me was the author's assumption that all women are just trying to compete with each other. He described the fictional lady in the potty-training scenario as feeling superior to her neighbor because her son was potty trained quicker and more thoroughly than her neighbor's children. Honestly, we aren't all like that! Also, the scenario paints a picture of a perfect potty-training session. I felt frustrated when our experience didn't even come close to that illustrated in the book.
Other than these things, I did come away with some great ideas. I thought it was a wonderful (and quite forward thinking for the 70's) idea to have your child "potty-train" a doll. I also liked their method for rewarding the child and then gradually reducing the rewards as the child becomes more adept with various skills. These are things that I have incorporated into my, now revised, method for teaching Scooter.
I know that this method can work because many of my friends and family have used it and had success. The key is to make sure your child is truly ready to be trained. I think the reason that it did not work for me is because my child has a real emotional fear right now of using the toilet. I think that is something that we need to deal with first, and it was not discussed in the book.
I recommend this book as a good way to obtain information about potty training, but I advise readers to remember that they ultimately know what is best for their own child and to do what works for them.

Does anyone have any great potty training book to recommend?
Have you had success with this particular method?

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness and the Fair that Changed America

Who knew that I would get so into a historical non-fiction book? I love learning about history, but the books I've read have never been such page turners. I couldn't put this book down. It takes place during the planning, building and excitement of the Chicago world fair. It chronicles the lives of two men during this exciting time in Chicago's history; Daniel Burnham, the architect of the spectacular fair, and H. H. Holmes, a psychopathic murderer who preyed on women.

I was dazzled with the historical aspect of how the whole fair got put together. I was so interested in the new innovations at that time, such as a way to provide clean drinking water, powering the whole fair with electricity, and the invention of the Ferris Wheel. The building of the fair reminded me a lot of when Salt Lake got the 2002 Winter Olympics. I could imagine the same fervor and excitement that existed in 2002 and the preceding years building up to it, as the same as what happened in 1893.

Holmes was one of the scariest murderers I've read about and I think that's mostly because it's a true story. I couldn't believe how people around him trusted him and thought he was such a wonderful man. Only a few people wrote about having a weird feeling around him. He built a creepy hotel and business, for which he bought everything on credit and never paid back. The people who visited his hotel and those who lived there, actually liked Holmes. The man lied so easily and people trusted him so readily that it took a long time before suspicion fell upon him.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. You don't have to love history to enjoy this book. The author writes so well that you can't help but fall in love with the story.

*Have you read this book? What did you think about it?