Let's not act all happy and rosy about the whole thing, because I'm not going to lie, it was HARD. I prepared a lot and it was still just as hard as I imagined. I read up on potty training, potty training twins, checked out a book for me, checked out DVD's and books for them, bought treats, presents, etc. etc. So let's just give a quick run down of how it all happened.
We waited until after our trip to Disneyland. We had been talking about it for a while and had them practicing sitting on the toilet. I sat them straight on the toilet cuz I didn't want to clean out 2 little potties. It worked for them and I'm glad. I knew they were ready and I also knew Siena was a little more ready than Aria. 'They' tell you train one at a time but how are you supposed to reward one of them when you haven't even given the opportunity to the other one to earn the same reward? A constant struggle in my life, trying to be fair. I know life isn't fair but I still try to give them the same opportunities when I can. ugh...so we started with both of them and I was happy when only after 2 hours Aria wanted her diaper back on. Great. So we concentrated on Siena and there were a lot of tears from Aria when she didn't get a treat, but she still refused to try. But then something great happened on day 2. Siena started sharing her treats with Aria. It was so cute to watch. I would give the treat to Siena, they would run to their play house where Siena would pass out the candy to each other. This kept up for 3 weeks (well I didn't pass out treats for 3 weeks, although we do need a major candy detox in this house right now.) But Aria had zero interest in wearing panties for 3 weeks. She would cheer her sister on like no other cheerleader you've seen but could have cared less about herself.
Then one day, she wanted panties, and just like that I had 2-2 1/2 year olds needing to use the potty. Siena actually regressed a little I think because for a week she had to go potty whenever Aria went, no matter if she really had to go or not or had just gone 10 minutes before that. Thankfully we have 2 bathrooms on the main floor because we use both of them at the same time A LOT right now.
So here we are, they both have accidents here and there. As of this point Siena has gone 9 days and Aria has gone 5 without an accident so I'm feeling like we're doing really good. Here's after a bad day.
Hardest parts of potty training...1 - when they have to go poop and try to use the potty every 10 minutes for hours until they actually poop. It makes feel claustrophobic to sit in the bathroom that much and I'm not claustrophobic at all. 2 - Teaching them to wash their hands...why has no one ever told me it's almost as hard to teach them to wash their hands as it is the teach them to go potty? Oh my patience wears thin at this subject. I'm holding strong though and they're getting it, all of it.
And then just like that they started waking up dry every morning so we do no pull ups, no diapers, we're just in panties around here. Although let the record show there have been several times I have begged them to put on a pull up or diaper and they flat out refused.
We talk about the potty a lot around here, there is no shortage of praise or cheers from us or each other. The still cheer and clap for each other every day like it's the first time they've done it. It's the cutest thing there is about potty training twins, if there is such a thing. So 5 weeks in and we have more good days then bad, but we still have some tough times. But we move on and cheer each other on and when they get a treat, so do I!
