Last night as I lay down to go to sleep I was feeling more than a little trepidation at the thought of potty training twins. My previous two potty training experiences were very different. The first time was a total nightmare Click Here to read about that shambles! and the second time was a total dream. He basically trained himself and was dry at night super quickly too. So last night I just kept thinking about what we would get this time round and how it might be really different potty training twins.
Competence
So my lovelies, you might have expected me to feel really confident going into my third rodeo. You know like with the HR theory of competence; you did once so you can do it again. Yet there I was last night slightly pooping my pants (I should have used the potty really!) about the level of carnage that potty training twins could create.
18 Pairs of Pants
With my eldest I had 18 pairs of pants during the initial potty training phase and I needed every single pair. Looking back I, of course, now realise that he just wasn’t ready. I was being ‘that’ first time mummy who read a book and decided I must follow the rules. No more of that for this mummy. This time it is going be my way and based on the things I have learnt so if we need 18 pairs of pants we will be abandoning and coming back to it in the future.
Day One
So day one of potty training twins dawned and I prepared myself for a long day. Within the first ten minutes they had both done several little wees all over the dining room. Thank goodness for wooden floors. Then a few minutes after that one of them looked like she was having a bit of struggle and a strain so I got her to sit on the potty and sure enough a poo was forthcoming! Victory number one (well it was a number two, but you know what I mean). It was a good start so cue much celebration and bribery based rewards.
Bribery
I have decided to reward the twins with chocolate buttons during at least the first few days of potty training…. I know, I know ‘bribery gets you nowhere’ except it does and it definitely motivated a few successes in the potty world today so frankly I don’t care. Whatever works is OK by me.
Bare Bums
I decided pretty quickly this morning that bare bums were the way forward as by 10am I had already put 4 pairs of princess knickers into soak. So we abandoned that early doors and just turned up the heating so that they wouldn’t be cold. I started to feel quite encouraged by their progress by about lunchtime.
This afternoon we we had each twin run to and make it to the potty so I was thinking ‘ yes, this is going to work’. I made the fatal mistake of calling the husband and telling him that is was going OK and then…. I walked into the hallway to discover a poop and a wee on the floor – balls! Oh well tomorrow is another day so we will see what happens. So far I have managed to keep my sense of humour and the twins think it is great fun. Long may that continue only with less excrement on the floor.
