Charlotte hamming it up!

Potty Training Twins

I have gotten a lot of questions about how I potty trained my twins at 21 months, so I thought I would put more detail in a blog post.
I didn't start training my son until he was 32 months old because my girls were infants and anyone in that situation knows there is not much spare time with twin babies. When I went through the process with my son I hit a lot of resistance, and it ended up being a power struggle. I have since heard this is how it can be the closer they get to age 3 and older. This is the reason I jumped when the girls showed some interest in the potty.

 

Five months ago when the girls were 15 months, I put one of the small ikea potty chairs in the play room just so they would see it and not be freaked out by it. Both the girls would sit on it randomly and then one morning I saw that Charlotte was sitting on it and she had pooped in her diaper, I knew she was making some sort of connection. They would occasionaly let me know when their diaper was dirty, we talked about going on the potty, and their animals and dolls would go on the potty. Evelyn never really showed any interest, so I thought Charlotte would be my rock star. So I just decided to go for it and see if they would catch on and if not I could just go back to diapers.

I am now on week 3 of no diapers for my 21 month old twin girls and they are doing great!

The link below is what I read and sort of followed. Basically the 3 day method, which is to get rid of the diapers and don’t look back.

http://www.themoesfamilyintexas.blogspot.com/2012/01/potty-training-part-2.html?m=1

I started on a day when my husband and I were both home, an extra set of eyes are really great to have with two trainees. You never want to let them out of your sight, because that is when the accidents will happen.  I would go outside and bring a potty with us, or try to keep them on the hardwood floor. I didn’t set a timer with the girls, I would just take them to the potty frequently and try to wait for them to go. We spent a lot of time on the potty, reading, doing lacing cards, coloring, and watching their favorite show. What ever would keep them on the potty until they went.

I do feel like the biggest learning tool in the first couple of days is when they have an accident and you quickly bring them to the potty and tell them that pee pee goes in the potty. So, like the blogger above tells you to give them lots to drink, this helps them go more frequently so they can practice. I also think them being able to feel how wet they get when they have an accident, really helps them get it. This is why so many people say that using pull ups doesn't work, it only confuses them.

  I would say on day 4 my girls really started to get it.

 

The first week we stayed close to home, but by the second week we were getting back to are old routine. One piece of advice I got from another twin mom was this; "Just head on out! Have confidence in them that they can do it and go for it. If they are comfortable using a big potty, we went right to that when out and about. I always packed a change of underwear/shorts for each in my diaper bag just in case."

I found that potty training them at the same time worked in my favor, the girls will cheer each other on and if one goes and gets a reward the other would want to go too. With two it seemed that they would alternate who was having a good day.

  It takes them a little while to learn the feeling that they need to go and then to learn to go before it's too late. After 2 weeks my girls have starting to tell me when they have to go, but I would still take them even though they would say no when I ask them.

Potty training is definately a process not an event, so I found out with my first. I never had that experience that you hear from some parents that their child just decide to go on the potty, and that was it, never an accident. Maybe, if you wait long enough? My son was almost three and he never showed any interest so my fear was he was going to be five and I would be trying to potty train him.

If you think you are going crazy after day one, keep going. You are doing it right ;)

 It’s a lot of work, but so worth it! We are loving this new stage!

 

 

Listen...

As the summer is nearing it's end, and the business of fall and then the holidays approaches. I am reminded to listen to the still small voice of the Lord. Because He is not going to have a screaming match with my life.

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
Psalm 46:10

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. James 4:8

I want to be still before my God to encounter the awesome presence of His love. Not yesterday, not tomorrow but today right now and right in the midst of my messy life.


The kids love the garden:

Potty training x 2

The potty training diaries: We are almost 2 weeks into no diapers for these 2. Let me just say I am one proud momma!
Potty training is not something I look forward to, but once one of the girls showed interest I decided to go for it and see what happens. I decided to start on a weekend when I would have help, and from my experience it is best to go for it and don't look back. 
By day 4 we were doing good and they were defiantly catching on. The first few days are always a little nutty, and we still have occasional accidents. But we are well on are way to being potty trained, last night we went out to dinner and a Costco run and the girls stayed dry.
My husband always has to remind me that it is a process with good and bad days.

To read my potty training method go here.