A little over a month ago I decided it would be a good idea to start potty training...BOTH Ada and Emmet...AT THE SAME TIME. I was feeling very positive, we started talking about it, reading books and we even made the exciting trip to the store for Ada and Emmet to pick out their very own Big Girl/Big Boy underwear. It was all very exciting. I read a manual of sorts that suggested to go cold turkey, as in NO MORE DIAPERS, day or night. I knew Ada was ready. Emmet had been showing SOME interest. So, I thought I'd just go for it. The "manual" I read swore that 3-4 days would be all it would take. Ha! I'm so naive and gullible!
My expectations included not leaving the house, many accidents and lots of laundry and of course some frustration. It didn't help that I came down with a cold on Day 1 or that the kids were maybe feeling a little lousy as well, OR that Matdie had just had her toe amputated, OR that Roger was gone for the weekend. Sometimes I wonder about my sanity!
By the end of Day 1 I was utterly exhausted, feeling sick and not to mention disgusting from cleaning up pee all day long. There were some successes by Day 2. Emmet wouldn't pee on the potty at all on Day 1 and by Day 2 was willing to give it a try. Ada was actually doing okay. They loved receiving stickers for trying and of course washing their hands a million times. I thought I was going to literally lose my mind. By Day 3 I wanted to rip my tongue out after saying "Do you need to go potty? Tell mommy if you need to go potty. Remember you're a big girl/big boy now and we go on the potty." about a GAZILLION times. There were pee spots ALL over our living room and we hadn't left the house in three whole days. By the end of Day 3 I was in tears. Because we had discarded our diapers (really I just put them in a bag in the garage...just in case) I had been getting up to change sheets and take Ada potty for two nights in a row, she would wake up 2-3 times each night saying she needed to go potty. We were all exhausted! I made the decision to use diapers at night for bedtime. Once I made that decision I felt SO SO SO much better. Seriously, it was like an enormous weight was lifted off of my shoulders. That night everyone slept well! HEAVEN!
The next morning (Day 4) Emmet woke up before Ada. I brought him downstairs and hadn't changed him into underwear because I had decided the night before that the poor kid just wasn't ready and I was torturing both of us. So, Emmet is standing in front of a chair, facing it with his hands on it, leaning over it in what had become his "I'm going to pee on the floor" position and pushed a little. He tried again. He looked closer to the floor in front of him, behind him and in front again. He then stood up straight and with a highly confused look on his face and hands in the air says "Mommy! Penis broken!". I almost made my own little pee-pee mess on the floor from laughing so hard. He obviously thought he still had his big boy underwear on. My little goof ball!
So, fast forward to present day...Ada is doing really well. She still has some accidents every once in a while but I'm so impressed, and proud of course. We are still doing diapers at night and I'm okay with that! We haven't tried full steam ahead training with Emmet yet. He likes to go poop on the potty and seems to have started a routine of going potty on the toilet before he takes a bath. All of this means of course that my babies are no longer babies!
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