My first two children were a breeze to potty train, I know, I am blessed. My daughter was ready and pretty much potty trained herself before she was two. She made it so simple and I knew it couldn’t always be this easy. When it came time to potty train my son, I waited for his cues as we began the process, he was a little bit harder but not much. He was fully potty trained by the time he was 3. Like I said, I was blessed in this department. I know most of the time it is not that easy.
As the twins got older I have dreaded the day that we would have to potty train them. I mean sure, it will be nice to not have to buy diapers anymore, but the thought of having to remind two of them to go to the bathroom, changing out double the soiled clothes, etc, just made me want to wait as long as I could.
Photo by: Shelby Lindholm Photography
Well the dreaded day finally came. Both of the twins started to show interest in the using the potty. So my husband and I started the process. We first just tried to get them to go on our regular toilet, since that is what my other kids did. It turns out they just want to sit on the toilet for most of the day, and this mamma doesn’t have the time or want to sit in the bathroom all day long. So I bought two potties (because they would fight if there was only one) and we embarked on this exhausting journey called potty training.
Shout out to everyone that has ever potty trained a child. Whether you confine yourself to your bathroom, kitchen (because it has tile and not carpet), or certain spot in the living room, I feel you. Potty training is not for the faint of heart. I swear I spend 99% of my time currently in my bathroom. If one twin has to go the other one has to go too and by the time we go to the bathroom, flush the toilet, and wash our hands it seems like its time to go again. I know what you’re thinking, why don’t you bring those cute little potties you spent a lot of money on out into the the living room. Well that would be because those cute little twins who once wouldn’t go on the big potty, now ONLY want to go on the big potty. Why wouldn’t they change their mind from what they initially wanted? Toddlers man, they are something else.
We are currently a few weeks into potty training and I am completely exhausted. I have done more laundry than I would like, spent most of my time running between the bathroom and studying the looks on my kids faces determining whether they have to go to the bathroom or not. There is also this new fun game of saying we have to go potty even if we don’t just so we can play in the sink and wash our hands a million times. Thankfully we have successfully made it through a few ventures out of the house, and haven’t had any accidents. But man I can’t wait until they are fully potty trained. Until then send all the caffeine and sweets you can, because we are going to need it.
