Potty Training

We finally bit the bullet, stepped up to the plate, faced the music, put on our big kid undies (har dee har har, pun totally intended)... Enough with the cheesy idioms.

We did it! We started potty training Wednesday afternoon. Weird that we chose a half day, right? By all intents and purposes I was going to start Thursday morning but Phil, not having the same penchant for mental preparation and strict timelines said to just do it. Aaaaand we did.

Throwing their baby diapers in the trash. (aka: a clean garbage bag that now lives in my closet)

The undies were brought out and two pairs selected. Kate chose princess undies at the store and Max fell in love with Toy Story. I spent over $40 in underwear. Good grief! Add on another $50 for two cases of pull-ups. It will all pay off in the end, goodness knows how much we have spent on diapers over the past 3 years!

There was some coercing required to get two cute little bums on board. Kate wasn't so sure about ditching her diaper at first and Max took almost an hour to decide which character was going to cover his cheeks.

Max stayed dry the rest of the day and I think he must have peed in the bath tub. When it was time for bed, we put on a pull-up, and put the undies on over it. Max was sure that they were diapers and we stressed that they were not, just super cool and special night-time undies. He bought it and promptly peed in them. Old habits die hard.

Kate had soooo many accidents the first day. She would cry when it happened and we tried our darndest to make it to the potty. I would tell her constantly to let me know when she needed to go potty, we sat on the potty every 15 minutes. She would sit and sit, say she didn't need to go, hop off, and then 2 minutes later release. Repeat 12 more times. I think towards the end of the night she made it once.

We have potty charts and prizes sitting on top of the fridge. They get 1 m&m candy for sitting on the potty, 2 m&m's for pee and 3 m&m's for poo. They also get 1 sticker on their chart for pee and 2 stickers for #2. When the chart is full of stickers they get their toy; a Woody and Bullseye figurine set for Max and a Butterfly Ballerina Barbie for Kate. They are very excited about these toys!

Day 2 went better. Kate earned 3 or 4 more stickers on her chart and Max earned 1. He holds it forever and finally lets loose. He can sit on the potty for long periods of time and nothing. Kate is improving and that is great! She still had a lot of accidents but towards the end of the night she had made the connection of recognizing the signals and running to the potty. But she would still have wet undies when she got there. They still had not gone #2 at the end of the day, though Kate was working on something, and I didn't want them to get constipated. I gave them some prunes and called them "super raisins", they loved that and ate 2 each. We'll see if that was a good idea or not.

I went to get some fresh produce at the end of day 2. I was gone for 30 minutes and during that time Phil got to deal with a nasty poop. Ha! I had been dreading this all day. It even made me toss and turn all night. Sad but true. I have issues. He said it was so gross. And it got everywhere. I was sympathetic but secretly happy I dodged that first bullet. Heck, we all know there will be plenty more, and all for me. Kate blows through her entire underwear supply almost twice each day. A load of laundry each night and possibly during nap time is essential.

Day 3: Started off okay. Neither of them woke up ready to sit on the potty but we finally got there and they got their reward. No pee from either. We kept trying and trying. I knew that Kate had to go so I had her sit on her potty and gave her a juice box while I read a story. Worked! She went and was so happy and proud! Max didn't go and instead had an accident. It was a big one since he woke up almost dry and then held it for 2 hours. Max finally went #2, twice. In his undies. Gross but easy clean-up. With Kate, her "super raisins" made their debut in the nastiest way possible. So, so disgusting. I was dry heaving so badly, thankfully had a box of latex gloves on hand and had to pause periodically during clean-up to gain my composure. Max and Kate were both sitting on their potties while I cleaned up. Max very concerned about my behavior asked "You need a drink mommy?". (I was swallowing hard and breathing deeply to keep my cookies.) Ha! So sweet. I told him no but thank you.

And now since we have all read entirely too much about the toileting habits of my children let's wrap this thing up. Since last week they both have #1 down pretty well. There are still accidents, like in the toy aisle at Wal-Mart yesterday, and we are still working on #2 in the potty. Max has gone once and in his undies ever since. Slowly but surely...

To encourage #2 in the potty we have a new potty chart and picked out one more incentive toy. It might be awhile before they get to play with them. When the candy jar is empty there will be no more rewards for #1 other than praise.

I am so proud of them! They are doing really well and it is amazing how lovely it is to only have to change one bum around here.

We read lots of stories and play games while doing our business. "Read a story me, mom".

Rhett has enjoyed the perks of potty training too. Can't bust a juice box out without his radar picking it up.