Big kid undies times two.

So, we decided to do it. Potty training. The dreaded. This is a process--an ongoing process. If you continue to read on, beware--there is lots of talk of pee and toilets and stuff....

We started with reading some plans that have been published online. We stocked up on trivial prizes at the dollar store and the mega store nearby--stickers, stickers, stickers, bubbles, playdoh, puzzles, figurines of our most favorite characters, etc, etc, etc--sweet drinks, salty snacks. We quarantined off the carpeted areas and left access to only our kitchen tiled area and the deck and backyard. Got 2 identical potties ready to avoid any arguments over them. And we went for it--no pull-on style diapers--directly to big kid underwear. I had been talking it up to both little ones recently and whenever I would ask Nora if she was ready to use the potty, she would say "pwetty soon, Mama, pwetty soon."

With John home for the summer and the past 2+ years of diapers, diapers, diapers, we are definitely ready to teach these guys about the potty. We were prepared for the long haul (not sure if the nanny was, but she's going with it!).

Last Saturday became "Pwetty soon"--Day 1 was no diapers and trips to the potty every 10 minutes. Easy, right. When we started, we realized how far away we were--neither had any idea that they were peeing when they peed. When we did this with our oldest, we started much younger and followed a little different philosophy, but I was still surprised at how out of touch they were with this even though I realized they are still on the younger side for potty training by today's standards. We had lots of successes on Day1 and lots of accidents and we were all tired. We were able to see that they can space out voids by HOURS and between that and their great verbal communication abilities, we were definitely convinced by the end of day 1 that they were indeed "ready." One unanticipated issue was when one would have a success and get a prize, it would break the other's heart--it would also break the older sister's heart on occasion.

My first big YAHOO moment was the first time Ryan realized he was peeing--it was day 3 and he leaped off the potty midstream and screamed "I POOP!" and we all celebrated with him. No one told him that he didn't poop, we were just thrilled that he knew he was doing something.

My next YAHOO moment was realizing that Nora could start/force herself to pee on command. That happened on day 5. If I ask her to pee, she will tense up, pee and squeek "I MAKE A PEE," and clap for herself. She is so impressed.

Over the next few days, we extended the intervals, had more successes, less accidents. On Thursday Nora had 5 successes, zero accidents and Ryan only had one accident so we celebrated LOTS. Then Friday, not the same degree of success, but still lots of successes. So, we haven't had a sustained steady progress, but definitely are seeing overall improvement. We aren't to the point where anyone is actually asking to use the potty and then following that up with an actual pee, but we are hopeful.

My expectation was that this might take a couple weeks--I think now that months is probably more reasonable, so I'm hoping by the end of the summer. So, we continue. We might actually leave the house this weekend--probably with the pull-on style diapers though :) We have seen lots of progress but still have miles to go.