Potty Training Twins v.4

Potty Training Twins

An Update

Potty training twins... it kinda sucks... especially when you're being kind of lazy. There is twice the mess, twice the laundry, twice the time spent in the bathroom. Due to lack of motivation (and before mentioned overall laziness), I had kind of backed off a bit and not been very intentional about working with them. That was until, I found out that my friend's little boy (the girls' age) was potty trained over Christmas break- it just sparked that motivation again.  We've been working this thing for a while now and they should totally be finished with this "training" thing by now. That being said, we've been doing pretty well for the past couple of weeks.

Can I just say...? Taking potty training twins out in public is ridiculous and thus my main reason for resorting to pull-ups. Just the shear amount of time it requires to potty-break with these 2 little monsters angels is enough to make me crazy. But it can't be helped and is the means to an end so we just continue truckin' along. The pull-up thing mainly comes into play because accidents usually come in 2's and it is a lot of work and a lot of laundry to have an accident when you are at Target or worse- in the car. The nice thing is, when we are out, a lot of the time, they ask to go potty. They know they are covered but the public bathroom novelty hasn't quite worn off :) (EW.) As a matter of fact, when I was working the child watch at our gym his a.m., Lilly decided she would take care of this potty thing on her own & stripped right down & headed off to the bathroom. Definitely one of those moments when you're not sure whether to be proud or embarrassed. haha

At home, pull-ups = diapers so they go without when we're in the house. I believe their preference would be to hang out all nakey all the time but usually, they have something on their hiney & it stays dry much of the time these days :)

Overall, we are seeing progress and I think we will be all undies before too long :) It's almost time to rent that carpet steamer... almost.

And moments like this make it all worth it!

(Of course, eliminating those diaper purchases from our budget helps too)

Lillian & Ava
Christmas Day

btw- did anyone besides my dad notice that I posted a wordless-ish wednesday on TUESDAY??? Where is my brain?! Oh right, consumed by 3 brain sucking children- I kid. kind of.

Potty Time v.3

Whew! So glad yesterday is over and today is a new day! 

Decided today can be potty update day :)

Ava

Ava will sit on the potty all day if you let. I try to get her down and it's always, "potty again, Mommy! potty again!" I'm like, how many times can you pee in 3 mins????? 

Lilly

Lilly has her own way of getting on the potty. Not sure if these would be deemed inappropriate but I think some of them are  hilarious. She actually likes to sit on the potty backwards- silly girl.

Overall, the girls are pretty much in the same place they were in my last update. Not much has changed but I have lacked the necessary motivation to get it done. I'd like to organize a couple of days to get Malakai out of the house & spend the whole time concentrated on potty time. May try to borrow a little potty from someone so we can have 2 peeing at one time- plus they wouldn't have to climb to go.

The girls are definitely ready, it is just a matter of effort to finish it up. I am really looking forward to no.more.diapers. Anyone with advice, feel free to chime in.

**Oh and just for the record, I'm listening to Presidential election coverage in the background and it is making me sick so I won't be losing any sleep over this... time.for.bed. And yes, I did vote.** #sogladitsalmostover

awwww man & an update

So I'm sure you ALL noticed my absence yesterday but I had a brain lapse and completely forgot to post. I was having too much fun, apparently...

I'm feeling a bit empty for words so I'm going to share something that I started to write a while back and never posted for whatever reason :)


A little upity update.... :)

A few months ago I posted about our potty training d-day... 

There is a reason I haven't posted since. 

Between the busyness of having 2- 1yr olds & a 3 yr old and their seemingly not quite readiness, I kind of put the potty stuff on the back burner. And that's okay. 

However, over the past couple of weeks their interest has increased and seemingly their awareness so I decided to give it another go :) They are doing really well with it! Honestly, they both have good days & bad days. Unfortunately, they only really seem to notice if they are butt naked. When I put anything on them, they pee with no care. 

The most challenging part about p/t twins has to be the fact that there are 2 of them and it makes it hard to watch for potty signals- which leads to more messes than I care to clean up in 30 mins. So, I attempted a go at training undies (you know, the really thick ones) but undoubtedly, their skinny butts are waaaay too small for 2T- go figure. I have looked a couple of places around town for smaller sizes but to no avail. I probably need to google it :) For now, we do a lot of naked time and I'm forced to just clean up.

OH and don't let me forget to mention that someone stole our little kid potty. I mean, WHO steals a baby potty?! The bottom comes apart to make a stepping stool and Malakai had been using it at the sink where he got it all wet. I set it outside to dry while I did other things around the house. I noticed later that it wasn't outside our door so I assumed Michael had put in the shed or something. Since this was during the time when p/t was on the sidelines, I really didn't think much about it until a couple of days later. I went on the hunt for it only to find it had been potty snatched! :( It really makes it difficult when you have 2 girls that neeeed to potty at the same time. We'll be fine and make do with what we have but it still just baffles me.

And there you have it- We are taking it one day at a time and I'm pretty much letting them run the show- for now. Honestly, this is an okay place to be. Progress is being made and I am beginning to see a diaper-less home in the near future.

Potty Training Twin Files: D-Day Edition

What have I gotten myself into?

Today began Day 1 of potty training twins. Never thought I'd have twins. Certainly never considered potty training 2 kids at the same time. Alas, I have twins and I will be training them at the same time. They are walking, talking and can follow instructions. Both girls receive praise really well so I think they are ready enough to begin.

Prelude:

Ava, on 2 accounts, removed her (pee-pee) diaper during nap & made 1 attempt to remove a poopy diaper during nap. Thankfully, the mess has been minimal but those instances were enough to motivate me to begin this seemingly daunting process.

We already had begun introducing the idea after baths a few weeks ago. Ava showed the most interest and surprised me by the fact that she could actually "make" herself go. She has even pooped on the potty twice. They seemed to respond to the praise much more than Malakai ever did. Lillian really didn't want to sit. She would sit down for about 5 seconds before begging to, "Dit down. Peeese dit down!" Honestly, I was afraid I'd have to potty train them seperately- BOO! I was willing but not thrilled with this idea.

So last night, when I was at Wally World to buy wipes (I swear that place is my 2nd home), I decided to make the leap and purchase a 2nd potty. Turns out, I decided upon a cushion to fit our big potty since we'd just been sitting them up there and holding them so they wouldn't fall in anyway. I realized I may end up having to get a 2nd potty chair for the sake of competition but figured I'd try this first. Lilly likes the little potty better anyway so I thought it might just work out better this way.

Came w/ the hook to hang on the wall!

Our set up... :)

Commence D-DAY:

Woke up feeling much less motivated but pushed through and dressed the girls in little dresses and nakey bottoms. I had planned to just start with Ava today but Lilly came in the bathroom acting very  interested so she joined in the fun.

Started the day out with putting them both on the potty right away- both girls peed!!! YAY! Praise was great. At this point, they got diapers on so I could sit them at the table for breakfast. Following meal time, they were stripped down and plopped on the pot again. SUCCESS! 2 peed in potties. YAY!

At this point, I set a timer for 10 mins and tried to keep an eye on them. Next thing I know, with 1 minute left, Ava comes to announce that she peed on the floor. (At least she let me know) So, I went ahead and took them both potty. Ava, not to my surprise had nothing left to give but Lilly went. Repeated that exact scenario once more and decided the next round to set the timer for 8 minutes. Finally, I seemed to have found their groove.  We proceeded to follow that pattern a couple more rounds and then in was morning nap time.

Nap time was lame as neither of them slept. I had a couple of friends coming over and one has a 16 month old so I decided to forgo the potty training until after they left.

Around 1, they'd already eaten lunch, the little guy was gone and it was working on afternoon nap time. I decided to let both girls sit on the potty before laying them down. Both girls POOPED on the potty!!! YAY! I was so proud.

They are sleeping now, so we'll see what the afternoon holds.

It would seem, a diaperless life is in my not so distant future :) This makes for one very, very happy mama.

Feel free to email me with any tricks or tips you have found useful in your potty training ventures!

Small note, in an effort to get my blog out there, in hopes of encouraging and blessing other mamas, I have joined a network called Top Mommy Blogs. If you wouldn't mind just clicking the link to give me votes and get me closer to the top, I'd really appreciate it. (you can vote once every 24 hours) You don't have to join anything- just click the link :) Thanks so much!