(26 Months)
Last week after bath time, I was changing my daughter and my son was running around the house having his happy naked time. Then, he came up to me and said “pee!”. Are you ready for this? I said, “don’t pee! Go to the bathroom and use the potty.” He did. When I saw that he peed in the potty, I knew that it was time. How did we get here so fast?
I've been dreading potty training- I've even half-jokingly been hinting to friends that they should start up a potty training service and they can have mine to practice on. So, before embarking on this sure-to-be-overwhelming adventure, I did what most moms do today, I read various different methods, Toilet Training in Less Than a Day, Potty Train in Just One Day, The No-Cry Potty Training Solution, Diaper Free Before Age 3, Potty Train in 3 Days, plus too many internet articles to name. After reading and reading, and reading (and delaying and delaying and delaying), I thought- I'm sure my mom didn't do this. So, I called her and she laughed.
This was my mom's method, during the summer time she put me in a sundress and nothing else (without a diaper), and let me loose in the backyard (huge fenced in yard with plenty to do- swing sets, monkey bars, sprinkler, sand area). She gave me a lot to drink, and when it was time to pee, I peed in a big bowl (back in my day we didn't have training potties). It was stress free, it was natural, it definitely didn't involve reading days of material.
I also talked about this with my friend who has a daughter who is three weeks older than my twins. She potty trained her daughter in three days a little over a month ago. She followed pretty much the same method as my mom, and reassured me that it wasn't going to be this horrible, pee and poop filled nightmare that I have convinced myself of. Her daughter got the hang of peeing on the potty by the middle of the second day and my the end of day three was going pee on the potty all by herself. On day four, my friend took her to an amusement park! She's so brave.
My plan is to follow something like what my mom did with me and my friend did with her daughter. We don't have a big fenced in backyard, but we do have a partially covered lanai (no grass, only brick pavers). I brought the hose into the lanai (for anytime Wild One has a miss). I also brought the little potty outside, a full container of diaper wipes, hand wipes, paper towels, cloth towels and a plastic grocery bag (to hold all of the trash). The night before I filled up our bottom shelf in the fridge with prepared milk cups, sliced grapes and apples, yogurt already dished into two bowls and two cups of iced-tea (right now Wild One really likes Pineapple Lycée - it's very sweet, even though it's unsweetened). That way all I have to do is grab and go.
When the kids woke up, we told them how excited we are that today starts Wild One's potty time. We told Wild One that he's going to wear a cotton training pant while he eats first breakfast, and then he has naked time all the way until nap time. I thought he was going to love this, but he's at the age of "no", so it wasn't as joyfully received as I imagined. Right after Hubby fed them first breakfast (a puree of sweet potato, blueberry and apples), we brought them outside. Wild One usually, usually, goes poopy within the first hour after first breakfast. Even so, as soon as he went outside, we took off his training pant and then I went into spotter mode. I knew he was going to poop, but when. The minutes started clicking away and no poop, no pee. He doesn't have any tells for poop. Almost an hour goes by and nothing. I'm still watching him like a hawk and trying to pay attention to Little Miss who keeps asking me to make a teeny tiny airplane out of Play-doh. Then he tries to sneak under the slide, I quickly grab him and he has an uh-oh look on his face. As that look registers in my brain what's about to happen, a tiny pellet hits the floor. I hoist him up and plop (ha ha) him onto the potty as more tiny pellets now go spraying (gross I know) across the floor. I act (the Grammy goes to ME) all excited that he almost pooped on the potty. Then as I'm clapping, he starts peeing on the potty. We have a quick clean up session, which is a breeze because I have everything I need right next to me. Toss out the garbage and continue playing.
We pretended the hose was a train track and we chugged along. We kicked and threw the balls around. We had our dance party. Then Wild One asked to play with his water table, so I filled that up and we started splashing and pouring and seeing what floats and what sinks.
During snack time, he started showing signs that he has to pee. I asked him if he wants me to read to him while he sits on the potty (Wild One has always loved books). He sat on the potty and as I read, he peed. Woo hoo! He asked to watch me pour it out and said, "bye bye pee, see you later pee." So cute. OK, two for three (or two for two if we are just counting pees).
Grandpa and I kept offering Wild One iced-tea, but he wasn't drinking (which is unusual for him, he usually drinks a lot of water or iced-tea throughout the day). Right after he had lunch, he looked like he had to pee, so I asked if he would sit on the potty and Daddy would mould a football out of Play-Doh for him (that worked). While he was on the potty, in a soft little voice, he said "look Daddy, I peed". Woo hoo! Three pees for three pees.
For naps and night time, we decided to put them back in a diaper. They don't sleep enough as it is, and I really don't want to interrupt the little amount of sleep that they do get. I'm SO glad that I put him in a diaper, he peed and pooped during nap time.
After nap time, Grandpa and I brought the kids back outside (removed Wild One's diaper and cleaned him up) and they started playing immediately with their water table. Little Miss asked "where bubbles go?" I showed her how to swish her hand under the water to make them appear really fast. Wild One heard the splashing and came running over. This turned into a splash party.
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| I hope she always likes cleaning. |
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| Yes, that is a picture of them washing their own dishes. |
Wild One actually sat down on the potty himself, without needing to be prompted, and peed! This is unbelievable, he was definitely ready for this. The next time he looked like he needed to pee, he was in the middle of playing by the water table, so we needed to prompt him.
By the end of the day, he was six for six pees on the potty! We're so proud of him. Tomorrow I'm hoping to do some messy art work, since we never got to it today (Play-Doh, all of the balls, and the water table were the favorites). I also want to have Wild One practice pulling up and down a cotton training pant (after he pees on the potty, we'll try a few times throughout the day). Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that day two goes just as well.
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