We're gearing up for the next big transition in our house, so I'm once again soliciting advice. It's time to...potty train the twins!
Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! I know that countless mothers have done this before, but it's one growing-up phase that I'm SO not looking forward to. It's not that I just don't want them to grow up (which I sometimes don't), but it's the task itself that is daunting me.
What method should we use? When exactly should we begin? What kind of reward system would work best? Should we use pull-ups or big kid underwear? These are the questions with which I need your help!
I had decided a while back that it would be easiest to just buy potty seats to go on our regular toilets instead of little potties. One less transition, right? Then it hit me: we don't have a bathroom with two toilets! I really can't tell one kid they have to hold it until the other is done when we're trying to encourage them to go in the potty, now can I? So we purchased four, yes four, of these little gems. Two upstairs & two downstairs. Right now, they're a novelty item. We've talked about what they're for & what's going to happen, but we haven't actually done anything yet.
I'm waiting with baited breath for your commentary. Please don't let me down!
What method should we use? When exactly should we begin? What kind of reward system would work best? Should we use pull-ups or big kid underwear? These are the questions with which I need your help!
I had decided a while back that it would be easiest to just buy potty seats to go on our regular toilets instead of little potties. One less transition, right? Then it hit me: we don't have a bathroom with two toilets! I really can't tell one kid they have to hold it until the other is done when we're trying to encourage them to go in the potty, now can I? So we purchased four, yes four, of these little gems. Two upstairs & two downstairs. Right now, they're a novelty item. We've talked about what they're for & what's going to happen, but we haven't actually done anything yet. 
I'm waiting with baited breath for your commentary. Please don't let me down!
5 comments:
My two cents (and EVERY kid is different about it, and your twins will probably be on different time tables than each other, especially being boy/girl) :
I personally don't think most kids are ready until they are AT LEAST 2, if not 2 1/2. Their little bodies just don't get it. But, some kids are pros at 18mo, so who knows? But from what I read, WAIT until they seem ready. A sign we looked for was when R would wake up from a nap with a dry diaper fairly frequently. Just showing that her bladder was capable of holding.
We did the 3 day blitz (let me know if you want details on that!). Put her in panties and told her to "do not to get the princesses wet!!" Pull Ups don't really work in my opinion. Great for naps and betime at the beginning, but NOT GREAT for teaching them to hold it. Reagan was 2 1/2 and was ready, so in three days she was trained. Has maybe had one accident in her whole life! About 2 weeks later we could quit using pullups for bedtimes even. So, overall, waiting until they are good and ready makes life SO MUCH EASIER for the training process. I have a friend who says they started too early for her little boy, and it took him 6 months to train. Ugh.
Good luck!!! I'm certainly no expert, but ours was EASY!
PS. I will say that if I had two, I'd be starting about about 2yrs if I thought they could handle it. I bet you go through a million diapers! Maybe they'll give YOU a present for their birthdays and get out of diapers!! It's like getting a raise!
girl, i don't think i have any words of wisdom for you. potty-training cale was an absolute NIGHTMARE that wasn't complete until he was 3 1/2 yrs old. he had some fear re: #2 that took him a long time to conquer, so we just had to sort of wait until he figured all that out for himself. ellie on the other hand totally potty-trained herself for #2 FIRST(while we were on vacation, no less!) at 2 1/4 yrs, so then we had to work with her just a bit for #1 but there was almost no stress involved since she "got it" and wasn't fearful.
i think i agree with jodi - pull-ups didn't do much for us. they are so absorbant that i think kids think of them just like diapers. we did better when we just put them in underwear. we still put ellie in pullups at night, but she stays dry. i won't be buying anymore :). good luck!!
You'll be the one giving me advice about pottytraining twins! Brooke was a tough cookie. She was pretty much trained for a while (2.25yrs) but the excitement of it all wore off and she had a big regression. We put the potty away for months, and I didn't get it back out until she told me she wanted to use the potty. From that day forward she was completely trained! That's her personality though.. Miss Independent-Stubborn-Sassafrass!
2 people at church that had great pottytraining success and used books I can't remember the names of are Mica and Abbie M.
Ahhh...potty training twins! I am not going to lie, it has been the hardest thing that we have dealt with regarding twins. We are still struggling with #2. Jane and Sydney both started wearing undies when they were about 2 and 4 months. They have the tee-tee thing down. We used a sticker chart, and they got to work for a prize. They still sleep in diapers, and that is when they choose to do #2. I could use some advice on that one!!!!
Best of luck to you! Don't be afraid to start and then table it for a while if they don't seem ready!
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