Day 10 Potty Update

Ok, so HERE we are after day 10 of potty training and I feel weird saying it, but I kind of think we are done with the "training phase"!  They have done so much better than I expected.  Absolutely no accidents for the last 4 days, consistently telling me when they have to go, and even waking from their sleep to go potty at 3:00am - which brought about many, many flashbacks of bottle feedings when they were itty bitty!  Here are a few things I've learned in the last ten days:

1. It is absolutely necessary to keep a potty chair in the car at all times.  This one threw me for a loop, but we have let Raegan pee away with the tailgate open at Neighborhood Market - and yes, people saw.  She can't hold it while we walk to the bathroom at the back of the store yet.  When she or Christian tell me they have to go THEY HAVE TO GO.  
2. Raegan thinks it is just as much fun to pee on Cheerios as Christian does. 
3. Reward them carefully.  We started with just chanting them on and singing but then I thought a prize box might be more fun.  That just led to them asking for it constantly.  I threatened to give the whole box to a neighbor kid.  Stickers and M&M's led to the same thing.  So we just play cheerleader instead :)  
4. I REALLY had to be ready to train them.  I have to stop everything to take them to the potty at a moment's notice.  Stop cooking, stop driving, stop eating…etc.  
5. I got lucky.  I'm pretty good at reading my kids and knowing when they are or aren't ready for something new but I really did expect this to be much more of a messy, tiring process.  Especially training two kids at the same time.  Letting them play naked outside almost all summer helped so much - they got used to stopping what they were doing and going over to the grass to pee.  No clean up if there was an accident, no pressure…it was great.  I just got lucky with the timing and they both were ready and willing to follow my lead.  

I have no idea how I went from 2 two year olds in May to what seems like 2 four year olds now.  No daytime diapers, no more pacifiers, going back to separate classrooms at "school" (Mom's Day Out) soon.  It's crazy, but so awesome.  

It's Potty Time

OH goodness, well here we go with potty training!  I wasn't planning on starting the twins this early, but Raegan's pink Baby Bjorn potty chair was delivered Tuesday and she was all about using it.  So I figured ah, what the hell - let's try it.  I ordered her chair from Amazon along with a book by Leslie Patricelli.

Baby Bjorn potty chair

I thought the book was kind of dumb at first, but the kids wanted to hear it again and again!

My twins love this stupid book

Since potty training two toddlers simultaneously seems almost impossible, I turned to my most trusted parenting book The Multiples Manual for instruction.  Here is the method in a nutshell:

• Pick a day and commit to having your child wear undies all day (minus naps & bedtime to start)
• Starting when they wake up, put undies on and take them to the bathroom every 2 hours.  Don't waste energy asking if they have to go every 15 minutes 
• When accidents happen, don't resort to diapers!  They have to learn what happens when there is no diaper.  Just clean up and move on, no punishment.  
• If at the end of the day, your child had more than 4 accidents with no improvement and no success on the potty, they are not ready.  Wait a month and repeat the process. 
• If they had less than 4 accidents, repeat day one over again.  Expect that there will still be accidents but as long as they have fewer than 4 they are doing well!  
• Don't offer rewards for trying, offer rewards for going.  For us, we rap and dance a little song that goes like this "Go Rae Rae, go Rae Rae, you're a big girl, you went potty!  Oh yeah, whoop whoop!"  It's quite a scene, trust me.  
• After a few days with minimal accidents, offer a big incentive like a trip to the toy store if they can stay dry for 5 days.  Any longer is unrealistic because they will still have occasional accidents.
• If they can stay dry for 5 days, you will have successfully potty trained your child!  Go buy yourself a drink :) 

Yesterday was our test day and Raegan had 4 accidents, but also went successfully multiple times in the bathroom, Christian had 2 accidents.  So we repeated it today - Raegan had ZERO accidents, Christian had one but also did No. 2 on the toilet for the first time.  He even told Don he had to go potty after he had his diaper on at bedtime.  So…we'll do it again tomorrow!  Potty training can take six months or six days.  It all depends on the age of the child and if the child and parents are ready, not on creative parenting techniques.  Also, don't waste money on training pants.  It will only confuse your child and prolong the process.  Stick to diapers until they are ready to use the bathroom.  

I love this "test day" process because it doesn't leave me stuck at home doing bootcamp for an entire weekend.  It's just one day of potential messes and clean up.  Seems way less daunting than other methods I've read about.  We even made it out to a play date and Target while doing our first two days!  Just keep entire changes of clothes in the car :)  

Blogger Virgin

Friends keep telling me I need to start blogging about my life with twin two year olds.  Never done this before so bear with me!  It will get better with time, promise.  But first, a pic of my sweet and oh so crazy kids.

Raegan & Christian, two years old