Family Forum / Parenting / Twins / July 2004

This is what we did:

We bought potties just after their 2-year birthday. NO interest in them
whatsoever. Sometime in January, Joshua decided he wanted to pee in the
potty all of the sudden. That lasted for a little while then stopped
showing interest (which was fine by me as I was heavily pregnant).

In May, *I* decided to give things a nudge because with the new baby, I
had little free time to do child-led potty training. They had to sit on
the potties right before bathtime in the evening and drink a glass of
milk. I didn't care whether they went on the potty or not. All they had
to do was sit on it and drink the milk (open cup). I had another reason
too, if they spilled the milk I didn't care because they were naked, on
a potty, and on a vinyl floor.

At the end of May, DH started a new job that takes him out of town 2
weeks out of every 3. My free time for potty training just went out the
window.

Sometime in the middle of June, Katerina went pee in the potty. YAY! Big
production, got an M&M as a reward.

Then she started peeing regularly in the evening at the beginning of
July. So 2 Sundays ago, I started putting them on the potty first thing
in the morning before they had a chance to pee in the diaper. That
Sunday morning she protested for a couple of minutes (but she is an
absolute bear when she wakes up) but I sat in the bathroom and told her
how proud I was of her peeing in the potty at night. I told her I would
be really proud and happy (she wants to make me "happy" lately) if she
would pee in the potty this morning. Still protest. Then I heard
Isabella fussing so I told her to stay on the potty because I had to
check Isabella. After a minute, she came running out saying she peed. I
guess she wanted some privacy.

Joshua had no problem. He is a follower.

I thought, okay, I can handle a morning potty session and an evening
potty session. If they want to any other time, fine, but no pressure.
Katerina had different ideas. She kept taking off her diaper that
morning and going pee on the potty. I kept giving her an M&M every time.
Joshua saw Katerina doing this and he followed. Then I ran out of M&Ms.
While the kids were napping, I called my neighbour and she came over
while I ran and got some more M&Ms (the mini kind).

That afternoon, after nap, I put them in cotton underwear.  All they
needed was a small nudge and M&Ms. I put the M&Ms in a clear glass bowl
in the bathroom so they could see the reward.

Over the next week, they only times they were in diapers/pull-ups is
while sleeping. The rest of the time it was cotton underwear. Yes, we
had accidents of both poo and pee but I knew it was par for the course.
I have Spot Shot for carpet accidents and a Swiffer Wet Jet for vinyl
floor accidents.

I think that it went quick for a few reasons:

* We didn't switch back and forth between underwear and pull-up/diapers,
even when going out
* We had a visual stimulus with the M&Ms being right on the counter
* Everytime they said they needed to go, we went. Even if they came out
of their bed 5 times.
* We made a HUGE production out of poos in the potty, jumping up and
down, cheering, hugging, saying how proud we are, that sort of thing

So that's pretty much it. DH and I were their potty slaves, it was a LOT
of work, we will have to clean the carpets, I've done lots of laundry,
but it's done. We haven't had any accidents for a couple of days.