{"id":68099,"date":"2012-12-19T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T17:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/?p=68099"},"modified":"2012-12-19T13:17:02","modified_gmt":"2012-12-19T18:17:02","slug":"potty-training-twins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/potty-training-twins\/","title":{"rendered":"Twinning:<\/b> Potty Training Twins Is As Messy As It Sounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shutterstock_230373\"

Potty training twins is not for the faint of heart. It\u2019s messy business, and it feels like it will never end. But since most preschools require kids to be potty-trained before they enroll, we had no choice but to get through it.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re potty training twins, you can expect twice the mess, twice the chaos and twice the equipment. And when it\u2019s all over, you can stop buying twice the diapers, so there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n

One of the hardest parts about potty training twins is that often one child isn\u2019t ready, as was the case with my two. My daughter Allie started showing \u201dreadiness signs\u201d at 22 months: demonstrating an interest in the toilet, telling me when she did poo, wanting her diaper changed after peeing, and waking up dry. My son Nick showed no signs. He had many interests, but where he went to the bathroom was not one of them. While my daughter was working on her \u201dlife skills\u201d as if she was planning on moving out by age three, my son was busy learning the alphabet and numbers up to 20. What went on in his diaper was for me to worry about as far as he was concerned.<\/p>\n

One of the rules of twin parenting is \u201dboth at the same time\u201d\u201d\u201dand to keep my sanity, I\u2019ve always tried to obey it if possible. While I waited for my son to show the slightest interest in potty training, I began building up our arsenal of potty paraphernalia\u201d\u201dtwo potty chairs, a potty-training DVD called \u201dGo Potty Go,\u201d the book Everyone Poops<\/em>, some Hanna Andersson<\/strong> thick cotton training underpants, and elastic-waist shorts for easy on-off access.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d be ready when they were.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t long after my twins turned two that Allie took her diaper off during naptime and decorated the crib with its contents. That was it\u201d\u201dready or not, my twins were getting potty-trained. I figured I\u2019d offer Nick the chance to go diaper-free, and if he didn\u2019t want to, I would just suck it up and train them separately.<\/p>\n

For two days before we started, I kept talking about how much fun it was going to be. \u201dYou\u2019re going to wear big kid underwear! Tomorrow you\u2019ll be doing pee-pee on the potty!\u201d Luckily 2-years-olds have no idea when you\u2019re faking, because they were so excited you\u2019d think I was promising them a trip to Disneyland.<\/p>\n

We started on a Saturday, so I\u2019d have two full days of help from my husband. I was glad it was June\u201d\u201dwe could do a lot of our potty training outside and only need minimal clothing. When our twins woke up, we told them there was a surprise in the bathroom for them. We all ran into the bathroom and I announced, \u201dyour potty chairs!\u201d like I\u2019d just given them a puppy. Being 2-year-olds, they were completely excited and could hardly wait to get their \u201dbaby bipers\u201d off. They both sat down on the potties and got up and sat down like they were playing Musical Chairs.<\/p>\n

When they were settled down enough to sit still, my daughter tinkled in her potty after only about a minute. She looked as shocked as I was. I had told them their reward would be two M&Ms for pee and four for poo, but I hadn\u2019t bought the M&Ms yet because I didn\u2019t expect anyone to actually go on the potty the first day. That was my biggest potty-training-prep Fail.<\/p>\n

So we promised Allie two M&Ms as soon as we bought them. Then Nick surprised us by not only tinkling, but hosing down the entire bathroom floor. I tried not to appear annoyed (because I\u2019d read you should always look happy about whatever comes out wherever it ends up), and gave him the same exuberant praise I gave Allie.<\/p>\n

But suddenly the chaos of twin potty training reared its head, and we couldn\u2019t keep things under control. Nick started splashing his feet in the pee, and my husband (who hadn\u2019t read all the articles I had about not appearing concerned over pee on the floor) began complaining and wiping it up with toilet paper. Allie stuck both hands in her potty, pulled out the urine receptacle and spilled pee all over the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201dNo hands in the potty!\u201d \u201dSit still while I clean this up!\u201d \u201dI said \u201d\u02dcStop touching the pee\u2019!\u201d My husband and I lost the super-supportive parental tone of voice you\u2019re supposed to maintain during these moments and started barking commands. Our twins stopped looking so triumphant and started to look upset. Then, like most episodes of twin chaos, things eventually got back to normal\u201d\u201dthe pee was cleaned from the floor, Alexandra\u2019s hands were washed, Nick\u2019s feet were washed, we flushed everyone\u2019s pee down the toilet and made more promises of M&Ms.<\/p>\n

By their second sitting a half-hour later, all notions of sanitary potty training had been flushed down the toilet. There was pee everywhere, and there was nothing I could do about it. We had a truly victorious moment after lunch when Allie pooped in her potty on the first day! I wasn\u2019t that proud since I\u2019d given birth.<\/p>\n

As expected, Nick waited until his diaper was on during naptime to poo. I knew he was not ready for this, but from what I\u2019d read about training twins, it\u2019s best to give them both a shot and if one has to stay in diapers, they\u2019ll only do so for a short while because they\u2019ll see their twin getting M&Ms every day.<\/p>\n

For the next week, I lived in potty training hell. I changed diapers in the morning, and then washed soiled undies and shorts all day long. I mopped floors and sanitized potties. I cleaned poo-covered hands and pee-covered feet. I would get one child clean only to turn around and see the other one sitting in a puddle. I handed out M&Ms like they were going out of style. I watched and sang \u201dGo Potty Go\u201d more times than any self-respecting adult should ever have to. I was a long, difficult week.<\/p>\n

By Week Two, no one had made it a whole day without an accident, and I was ready to throw in the towel. I had optimistically thought this would be over in a weekend. My cousin said her twin boys were trained within three days. My friend said her daughter decided at two that she didn\u2019t want to wear diapers and never had another accident. How foolish I was for listening. I felt captive to the house, overwhelmed by the thought of venturing out with diaper-less twins.<\/p>\n

Our turning point came on Day 11\u201d\u201dthe first day with no accidents for both. I was pretty sure Allie had it down, but Nick was still a hit or miss. He was really just in it for the M&Ms, but I was proud of him all the same.<\/p>\n

What surprised me was when it was all over, I had more of a hassle taking the kids out when they were potty-trained than when they were in diapers. Going out only required a couple of diapers thrown in my bag. Now with two kids in undies, I had to bring two entire outfits out with me. I also couldn\u2019t figure out a remotely sanitary process for taking twins with you in a public restroom, and I don\u2019t believe I ever will.<\/p>\n

(photo: chippix <\/a>\/ Shutterstock<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having twins can be the most amazing experience of your life. It can also cause you to wake up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21142,"featured_media":68102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[29,7353,16,1355,4818,35129],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":3,"label":"Childrearing"}],"post_tag":[{"value":29,"label":"childrearing"},{"value":7353,"label":"gallery"},{"value":16,"label":"parenting"},{"value":1355,"label":"potty training"},{"value":4818,"label":"Twinning"},{"value":35129,"label":"twins"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/shutterstock_230373.jpg",500,304,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Gloria Fallon","author_link":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/author\/4f17238b0909d\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":3,"name":"Childrearing","slug":"childrearing","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Get childrearing advice and read blog articles about how to raise your kids. Get advice for moms on how to be a good parent.\r\n","parent":0,"count":5343,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":3,"category_count":5343,"category_description":"Get childrearing advice and read blog articles about how to raise your kids. Get advice for moms on how to be a good parent.\r\n","cat_name":"Childrearing","category_nicename":"childrearing","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":29,"name":"childrearing","slug":"childrearing-2","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":29,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":845,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":7353,"name":"gallery","slug":"gallery-2","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":7444,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2500,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":16,"name":"parenting","slug":"parenting","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":16,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1332,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1355,"name":"potty training","slug":"potty-training","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1413,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":55,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":4818,"name":"Twinning","slug":"twinning","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":4886,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":34,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":35129,"name":"twins","slug":"twins","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":146,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":91,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mommyish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}