Supplies on hand for the weekend of potty training at home:
Two pottys (1 Baby Bjorn
and 1 Arm & Hammer) in the girl's bathroom.
12 big girl panties
Toddler wipes (Kandoo brand)
Teeshirts, capris and leggings
Day 1 Summary:
* We had several clothing changes and underwear changes due to around 7 accidents
* The girls napped in their diapers. I'm not ready to cross that bridge yet
* I stayed home all day and did the laundry at the end of the day
Obstacles to success:
Watching TV. The girls get so absorbed that they ignore their body cues. It's better to have them involved in play that's less engrossing
What didn't work:
* Taking them to the potty every 30 minutes. With kids that are able to communicate and fairly aware of their bodies, they just found my behaviour aggravating
* Treating them like adults; when they said no potty, I believed them. I shouldn't have
* Not trusting my instincts that they'll want to go after a meal or snack so keep to it until they put something in the potty
* Making them sit until they pee. Because there's two of them they just play and play and are too distracted to put anything in the potty
What worked:
Eliminating ALL distractions. I finally got to this point after dinner. I knew they would want to pee, so I confined all three of us to the bathroom and adjourning hallway. All other doors were closed and toys put away. Their only option was to run in and out of the bathroom. I didn't insist they sit on the potty, I just sat on the floor and waited. The girls were wearing only teeshirts - naked from waist down.
Soon, I saw Sugar dashing to her potty just as the first trickles started. She made her first peepee in the potty *insert clapping, hooping and hollering*. I was quite proud and she felt quite good with herself as well. Her reward was that she got to wear her "monkey" underwear and a hat and go into the parlour to watch TV. Spice asked for the same perks but I told her I needed some pee in the pot first.
Day 1 started out looking like a fail but ended up much better than I expected. I started this journey planning to only potty train Spice because I thought Sugar wasn't emotionally or mentally ready. I'm glad to be wrong.
Day 2 report to come tomorrow.
Notes on this Potty Training Twins Series
I'm writing this series to document my successes and missteps in attempting to potty train my almost 26 month old twin girls. I hope that this will come in useful for another parent of twins but I have to include a caveat that to be successful, potty training has to be personalised. What works for our family may not necessarily work for anyone else. Here's a summary of our specific situation and what informed our choices:
I'm writing this series to document my successes and missteps in attempting to potty train my almost 26 month old twin girls. I hope that this will come in useful for another parent of twins but I have to include a caveat that to be successful, potty training has to be personalised. What works for our family may not necessarily work for anyone else. Here's a summary of our specific situation and what informed our choices:
- I work outside the home 5 days a week and the twins attend daycare so I've decided that my active potty training will be evenings when we get home and on weekends. On weekdays the girls get pullups and scheduled potty time in the daycare
- My twins are young toddlers so most of the steps will be tailored to their age
