I'm EXHAUSTED

So I bit the bullet, and did the thing I was least looking forward to when raising my two children- we started potty training.  I purposely did not mention my intent to anyone really before we did because, well, I wasn't so sure I would not chicken out.  Here are my reflections on the first two days in:

I surprised myself by not really reading any books or formal stuff on the topic, and just read some internet stuff.  I read a lot of blog posts with interest, but most methods are geared towards one-at-a-time to train, and so I knew I'd have to modify a little to fit two-at-a-time to potty train anyway.  Everything I considered had to keep that in mind.  I decided to hit it hard initially (1 day method, or what I read about it online),and then adapt and back off afterward if needed.  Sam has been requesting to poop off and on for months in our toilet, and numerous other signs have been there for awhile, so I knew Sam and Anna were ready... I just knew I was not.  I'm not convinced I am still not ready, but they are already growing up too fast for me as it is.  They are almost two and a half, and this is the last good chunk of time that I can devote to it beyond a weekend until December.  I didn't want the bulk of the potty training to be done at daycare because I'm the mama and even if I'm not thrilled to do it- it is my job, not daycare's.  I want the ownership of potty training my children myself.

After breakfast ended on Saturday, I introduced Sam and Anna to the new potty chairs residing in our bathroom (if I had only one to train, I would have only offered our big toilet.  But, since I need two ways to go at the same time in the same bathroom, I really had no choice but to use a potty chair.  My plan is to get them to use both interchangeably, so that  a period of transition to the big toilet isn't needed.)  I used a doll who had what looked like underwear to pretend she went potty on the toilet.  We did the whole, she's a big girl look she has underwear on, wow, and you can be be big girl/boy too with underwear blah blah blah talk .  Then promptly put underwear on and started the whole method.  (See Elaine's post for more details.  she did a superb job outlining it all in detail.)  Now, I did a horrible job of sticking to the method because, well, it was a lot to keep track of times two.  My timing was less than textbook.  We never did 10 practices  or 10 wet pants inspections in a row after accidents, because geez- I had another armed and dangerous booty in underwear to keep my eye on!  I did as many as I could fit in, and moved on.  I lost track of the timing a lot.  I tried to keep both of them as close together as I could and sitting on the toilet at the same time, but it was hard. 

Sam?  He was a rock-star and had ZERO accidents during the first morning, since we put underwear on until nap.  Anna?  She had more accidents than I wanted to count so I stopped counting that first day.  Poor girl took longer to get the idea that she was supposed to hold it instead of going a little here and there when she wished like she did in the past.  I wanted to attempt underwear during naps just to see how it would go, although my plan was that we'd probably do diapers during sleep for a while anyway.  They both wet during nap, and unfortunately it threw Sam way off.  He was upset that he wet his special Thomas underwear, and his track record was shot for the few hours before bedtime.  It seemed like we could not get the two of them back on the right track and get ahead of the wet underwear.  We put them in diapers for nighttime sleep.

I went to bed late, wanting to delay the start of the next day, cried a little, regretted the whole thing, and contemplated throwing in the towel.

Sunday morning, a little less exhausted, I decided we would try underwear again all day and then reevaluate  for the third dayafter seeing how it went.  We put them in underwear after sitting on the toilet right after waking up.  I am SO glad we did, because it was Anna's turn to be the rock star today.  Somewhere between her last accident before bathtime the night before and waking up this morning it must have clicked.  Smart girl used that potty toilet like a pro today- telling us she had to go potty on her own all day long, and ZERO accidents before naptime.  She had one small accident in the afternoon, but to be honest, Daddy was in charge at the moment, she did tell him she had to go- she just didn't make it in time, and so maybe if I was there, she would have gotten there in time without wetting her underwear.

Sam was a different story.  I'm a little discouraged by him (notice I said by him, not with him.) today because I don't know what happened.  He lost interest so fast and I don't know why.  He  gets upset when his underwear is wet, is unwilling to sit when we ask him to try (because he wasn't telling us he needed to go, he doesn't go much when he is sitting, and he had a bunch of accidents.    He would stop and say uh oh, every time.  The only way I can get him to sit for any length of time is to read story after story to him while he's sitting there and he eventually forgets and lets it go.  Today we managed okay because there were two adults and Daddy could keep an eye on Anna playing while I sat in the bathroom and read to Sam, but tomorrow when I'm on my own it will be a little more challenging to keep my eye on both.  He also has not pooped on the toilet (except for a very tiny amount both days) since being put in underwear, and I don't get why because he WAS doing so for months off and on so it isn't anything new.  Maybe he's just a little stressed about the underwear aspect and the keeping-them-dry factor is throwing him for a loop.

We did leave the house and go for two walks and both kids stayed dry both times.  That was as far as we ventured though.  I think we'll follow the same plan tomorrow- underwear when awake, diapers when asleep and see how that goes.  If Sam's still in the same place all day, I think I may modify the plan a little.  Maybe less focus for him on keeping the underwear dry.  We will see. 

Although we've had some success, I am exhausted.  It takes a lot of effort to potty train two at once and keep an eye on the clock, dry underwear, washing hands, constantly encouraging times two, talking about potty! etc. all day long for two days!

Although I do have a bunch of cute photos of kids doing their business like big kids, and wearing ridiculously cute underwear, I don't think I'll be posting them on here.  So this is the photo you get.  In our not-big bathroom, it's a tight squeeze to fit in both potty chairs! (Basic white was deliberate.  I wanted it to be as much like the real deal as I could.)