Woohoo! It’s day four of potty training twins and we have a result! One of the twins has only gone and cracked it. There were no accidents today, but more importantly, she initiated everything. I did not remind her and she nailed it.
Tempting Fate
 I hate to tempt fate, but I am going to say it. One of the twins is officially potty trained! Making that statement feels rather like when you are at school and your teacher doesn’t arrive to start the lesson. So you all sit and wait for the requisite 10mins (this was our rule and everyone was very drilled on following the rules). At this point everyone was thinking ‘she isn’t coming’, but then someone would go and say it out loud and sure enough the door would open and double maths would begin in earnest (GROAN!)…. I digress; have you noticed I do this often? Maybe my brain is so befuddled by all these children that I can no longer stay on track or maybe it is just so full of thoughts now that I am the ripe roaring age of 41 that they invariably spill out. There I go again.
Now, where was I?
 Oh yes… victory is mine. Depending on how you manipulate statistics I either have a 100% success rate for that child or it is only a 50% success rate as there were two little girls who started the journey. Whichever, way you cut it I am pretty pleased that we have come this far in 4 days.
Toddler Dilemma
 I am sure that she will still have accidents as she is still fairly young, but I am confident that she understands this now and will never need to go back to nappies. I am sure of this because she is initiating the process herself, so I know she understands the cues from her body. It is this piece of the jigsaw that I find to be so pivotal in clinching potty training success. If you are still having to constantly remind them then I am not sure that you can feel fully secure in saying that they are potty trained.
She is still a toddler though so I know at some point she will face the ultimate toddler dilemma. It’s the fun vs. wee dilemma. I reckon some adults probably still have it too…. There will certainly come a point when she thinks to herself ‘I need a wee, but I love this playdoh (INSERT YOUR CHILDS FAVOURITE ACTIVITY) and I don’t want to stop playing’. In my experience this dilemma consistently ends up in a puddle on the floor until they are around 3 and a half when they finally accept that the wee will not wait for Peppa Pig to end.
What about the other Twin?
The other little lovely has not had a great day on the potty-training front and I have taken a decision. I have stopped the training for now. She was so delighted when I produced a pull up and asked her if she wanted it; ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’ she exclaimed whilst jumping up and down excitedly, that I know it is the right decision.
If I am really honest with myself then I would have to admit that I knew she wasn’t ready. I just wanted this period of nappies to be over. In this house there has been at least one child in nappies for 7 years and that is a lot of yuck to deal with. I can’t wait to not have to deal with them anymore, but I have to wait and that is ok. I don’t want to pressurise her into something that she isn’t ready for. It will only be setting her up to fail and I would much rather celebrate success when she is ready than commiserate with her when she is sad. So that’s that… 3 children down and one to go. This will still be the year that we are nappy free of that much I am certain – well in the daytime at least.
Check back in a couple of weeks or subscribe to the site so that you don’t miss a post as I will be providing an update on what I have learnt from this process and whether the success I am feeling today was justified.
