In times like these , I go to my fellow twin mama's who have walked the road before me. The more I talked to them and read their suggested reading (Pottywise) the more I realized I was not going to be training Jenna and Caden at the same time. Jenna was showing signs of readiness while Caden was not showing one.single.sign.
So, the reading occurred, the crates and crates of Capri Suns were purchased, stickers were presented, new Elmo potty was displayed and big girl underwear was picked out and purchased. My parents were gracious enough to take Caden on a big 3 day adventure so I could truly concentrate on Jenna. And, lets be honest - the twins have way too much fun together, there is no way Jenna would sit down longer than 10 seconds if her best buddy was in the house NOT having to sit on the potty. This was Caden's first "sleepover" by himself. (The only other time the twins have been separated overnight was when we went on our secret Ohio scout trip.They were 15 months old so too little to remember). He doesn't look sad to leave at all, does he?? :)
I let her pick out her big girl underwear (she picked out Minnie Mouse?) and after a tearful goodbye to her buddy, a quick M&M treat brought our focus back. I used the suggestions in Pottywise and we went to town "teaching" our teddy bear how to use the potty. She literally did not know what to do with all of the Capri Sun drinks I was giving her. And boy, was she tanking them.
We sat on the potty, sang songs, played "I Spy", put together lots of puzzles and voila! success in the potty. Her face was priceless - so excited. I of course jumped out of my skin excited for her, taught her how to flush, wash hands, put the bathroom back in order and we went about our day. I had waterproof blankets all over the place which made things interesting, but she was in LOVE with big girl underwear :) I still had to take care of Easton and wouldn't you know it - the two times I had to change his diaper or put him down for nap - we had an accident each time. I mean, we were going to the potty to try every 15 minutes after all of the drinks she was drinking! By nap time on the first day, our count was equal - 2 successes, 2 accidents. By the end of the day, we had #1 AND #2 successes all afternoon. I was astonished to say how great the day had gone. It was hard...very hard don't get me wrong, but I was so proud of Jenna and felt the timing was right and we were going to be successful.
Day 2 was very hard. Nothing but accidents all morning. She begged me not to make her drink anything. OOps...might have overdone it on Day 1! What in the world? Then we went outside all afternoon and she held it...ALL afternoon and only had one accident after dinner.
Day 3 - boom. It clicked. No accidents even going out and playing with friends. We sent her to church with no pull up - am and pm - no accidents! The rest is history. Any accident she has had (probably only 3 times? and mostly at Nana's (???)) is because I forgot to make her stop playing and go potty and once or twice during nap. I know the nighttime training will come but being back to only two in diapers - whew! yea! We have it made! haha. That is a twin parent statement if I have ever heard one. She can stop playing and go to the potty now or she holds it from like 10:30 - 4:30 -yes, seriously. She nap trained quickly and now only wears a diaper or pull up at night.
So now, it is just the boys - in the same size diapers. haha Caden wants nothing to do with using the potty...he has however asked multiple times to SIT on the potty in exchange for a treat that Jenna gets. I told him no...what a mean mama...because Ryan is out of town this week - sorry bud, no potty training this week, just survival. ;)
Jenna is SOOO proud of herself - the independence kicked in and helped make potty training easy. So proud of her! My keys to success are as follows:
1-a cool M&M dispenser (leave it to Gigi to find something like this)
2- The PBS app - life saver!
Congrats!!!!
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