Potty Talk

This is our potty training story so far...

Before they were two, I made some very halfhearted attempts at potty training because some friends of mine were having success with their kids of the same age.  I wasn't really too worried about it, but I figured we could give it a try, relaxed, no pressure.  My girls consistently poop after lunch, and a couple of times I put the girls on the potty at that time, read some stories, and Miss A had some success.  She peed and pooped a couple of times.  For Miss M, nothing.  I'm not sure why we stopped, maybe I was lazy, but I guess it seemed like more work than it was worth.  They weren't ready.  Okay, we weren't ready.  I decided to wait until summer when they would be wearing summer dresses and it would be easy access to get on the potty quickly.

Summer came and went.  We did give it a try for about three days.  I prepared myself, I bought rewards (mini M&M's), Pull-Ups, and a lot of panties, and I enlisted help (my mom). We took them out to the cabin, let them run around bottomless, and the potties followed them everywhere (in the cabin, in the yard, on the beach...).  We did have a few successes (because we got them to sit on the potty every 20 minutes), but mostly we just went through a lot of panties.  They weren't making the connection.  Wet panties were hanging everywhere.  I was ready, they were not.

Then a couple of weeks ago we had a play date with a friend and her daughter, who is a month older than my girls.  She's been peeing on the potty since she was 18 months old.  She's almost fully potty trained, but has the occasional pee in her Pull-Ups.  Anyways, the girls played, they watched their friend use the potty, and my girls each had a turn on the potty after.  Success all around.  Okay, let's do this.  Round three.

I like to implement changes in routine when I'm home for at least 3 or 4 days in a row, because I know consistency is key.  So we did 4 bottomless days at home.  Huge success.  Miss M got it right away, running to the potty on her own regularly.  Pees and poops.  She beats me there, pees, dumps it in the toilet and flushes.  It helps that she really likes getting treats afterward.  It helps even more that we've switched to gummy bears.  She was on the potty constantly for awhile, but I think the novelty has worn off a bit.  Her poor little bladder had nothing left, yet she'd still squeeze out one drop if she could, to get a treat.  I've had to specify that treats are only for the 'big ones', and now I regularly hear "Oooo, Mommy it's a big one!".  We've had outings (to the park, to music class) in Pull-Ups and stayed dry.  I don't expect that we'll have no accidents, but she's got it.  She's made the connection.  She wore pants all day today and still got them off in time, every time.  Woohoo!

Miss A is still hit or miss, which is interesting, because she's the one who had such early success.  She'll go with encouragement, but she gets busy and forgets sometimes.  I know she's made the brain-bladder connection, but I don't think she cares about the treats nearly as much as her sister does.  So, I've upped the ante.  I've made a deal with her that if she has lots of pees and poops on the potty, we'll buy a princess movie (I was going to buy Beauty and the Beast for Christmas, but this seemed better).  We'll see what happens. 

Now I need to work on my own training.  I can't be lazy and leave them in diapers for too long in the morning, and I need to get the Pull-Ups off as soon as we're home.  They know what to do, but I have to set them up for success.  It doesn't sound that hard to do, but getting diapers off means PJ's off, potty time, cleaning bums, cleaning potties, washing hands, panties on and clothes on.  Times two.  And I'm tired in the morning!  But I'm working on it.