POTTY TRAINING UPDATE. PROGRESS! FINALLY!

If you’ve been following my blog you’ve read this post and this post, where I bemoaned the difficulties of potty training and how I failed because I basically didn’t really try. Well, over the summer, my awesome neighbor offered to help me train them on her days off, which happened to be the week before they were going to start preschool. Since she works at a preschool and has experience, she had amazing tips and pointers and came over to help me train them. So we went to work.

The strategy was:

1. Put their potties in a separate part of the house, away from the TV.
2. Time them every five minutes and have them sit on the potty.
3. While they are sitting on the potty, read them a book. Make the time that they’re sitting on it “fun” and something they can look forward to.
4. Time them sitting on the potty for five minutes. Five minutes on, five minutes off. You can increase to ten minutes, fifteen minutes, half hour, etc. as you see they are getting the hang of it.
5. Rewarded them with something they don’t typically get to eat – jelly beans.
6. Let them run around the house naked in the meantime.
7. Be consistent, don’t give up, be prepared for accidents.
8. It’s okay if they don’t poop in the toilet right away, it takes time.

I give all credit to my neighbor and her encouragement and willingness to help! It really is awesome having another set of hands and just someone to encourage you when you feel like giving up. She was great.

We are a long way from where we started in the best way. I would say one is pretty much totally potty trained and the other is 85% there!  THIS MAKES ME FEEL LIKE WE ARE GROWING IN LEAPS AND BOUNDS. And I’m so proud, thrilled, emotional because they’re just not babies anymore. One wears pull-ups but stays dry the majority of the time, going on the potty while the other is in his underwear now all of the time. Hooray!

The thing with having twins is that they encouraged each other! This helped and I think going to pre-school and watching all of the other kids do it pushed them forward in a big way.

This whole potty-training thing is a journey! It is imperfect, messy, crazy…but we are well on our way!

My encouragement to you:

1. Don’t give up like I did right away.
2. Don’t be discouraged.
3. Be persistent, steady, consistent.
4. Dedicate several days, or a week to this completely.
5. Realize, they will go eventually. Don’t be hard on yourself.

These are the things I wish I told myself! But I’m really thankful that I had someone to tell me these things! But we have progressed, and for that I am proud!

Potty Training Fail.

*To the tune of ‘Fresh-Prince of Bel-Air’*

“And this is the story all about how

I tried to potty train my twins but failed, Oh Wow…*

Okay, so I’ll stick to not trying to rap. This week I was on my spring break from school. Can I even count the ways it was glorious? I go back to work tomorrow but so enjoyed hanging out with my babies! Summer, come please. Thanks.

That being said, I made a decision that I was going to potty train my boys during spring break. I had a week to do it and I kept telling myself and my friends. I was kind of determined. A few days passed into spring break and I forgot about it. Tuesday came around and I thought to myself, “Crap. I need to potty train these guys!” So I did what I do best. I went to Target with my husband and filled up the cart with loads of essentials.

Potty training pants? Check.

Cute “Cars” underwear? Check.

Other nonessential pointless items that make their way into my cart EVERY SINGLE TIME? Check.

Sheer determination to potty train no matter what? I think I left that at Starbucks when I was ordering my Frappucino.

This is how it went:

I woke up the next morning and “prepped” by looking up things on Pinterest and what not. Most moms research and read up on this for awhile. This mom talked to friends and other people, looked up a few articles, skimmed read them, and got ready. My husband was working so I was on my own. I was psyched about how much I was going to accomplish and how this was going to be the beginning of our potty training journey. So I woke up, took them from their cribs (you can read about my fear of toddler beds here) and sat them on the potty.

Me: Okay, now pee!

Them: Cars! Put on Cars Movie!

Me: Okay, but sit and pee while you watch (no pressure right?)

I then proceeded to stare at them and wait. They grew bored sitting on the toilet and tried to wander off. I grew bored watching and decided to use the bathroom. When I came back, one had grabbed their potty and was walking around with it. But wait, there was something inside! I excitedly texted my husband about the success we were reaching and bragging about my amazing potty training abilities. I tried to show my excitement by trying to engage the boys in high-fives but they weren’t too interested. Three hours later and several pee puddles on the floor later, I texted him a new message:

“This is hard. I quit. I think it would be easier with you here. I’ll try again in the summer.”

And THAT my friends, is how NOT to potty train. 🙂

We will revisit you soon potty. This won’t be the last of us.

I know I didn’t really give potty training a true try and I’m okay with that. We had a family emergency this week that took a toll on us in every way. We are still recovering from that even now. I also think one twin is ready and the other is not. So I may try to do one for now and wait a bit for my other little guy. Who knows?! Either way, it’ll happen before preschool in September. I hope! Ha!