My Work Week Was Like No Other... Potty Training Triplets, WOW!

After hearing my first day's experience while potty training Liam, Aidan & Connor, my dad suggested that I blog about our efforts.  Since it hadn't gone how I planned (or hoped!), I wondered if I would just want to forget about the whole process once we had it mastered. But since my dad is usually right, I decided to take his advise...

March~ As a birthday present, Grandma Mary and Grandpa Ron gave the boys all their potty training necessities... adorable (really!) potty chairs, little boy undies, a book titled Elmo Goes to the Potty, and even a 'fun' book for me... Toilet Training in Less Than a Day.

April- July~ The boys became familiar with the concept, and enjoyed playing with their colorful potty chairs. I read my book, and decided to wait until they turned three :-).

August- Early September~ I finally moved the potty chairs into the bathroom, and encouraged the boys to use them at each diaper change. All three had no problem turning 'it' on and off. In fact, after using their chairs for just a couple days, Connor decided to make a contribution in each chair, in a matter of 45 seconds. Impressive?!?

Early September~ I posted this picture on my blog and FB. I regret doing this, not for the fear of embarrassing the boys down-the-road, but for putting it out there that potty training was on our agenda. At the time I was in no hurry what-so-ever to get the boys potty trained, since I LOVE diapers, and all the freedom they come with. That said, I received a lot of feedback after I posted the picture; some filled with encouragement but even more shared their personal stories about the challenges of the whole potty training process. With all the feedback, I started to think about it entirely too much, psyching myself out. The last straw was when I had a nightmare about potty training the boys. I couldn't even get away from my potty training fears when I was sleeping!  That did it for me, the next morning I started the training... I was prepared as I could possibly be, the boys seemed ready, and there was no way it could be harder than I was making it out to be... or so I thought!

After much research, I decided to follow Suzanne Riffel's The Potty Boot Camp: Basic Training for Toddlers concept, which was a combo of 4 of the most popular methods out there... Train in a Day, The Timer, Naked and $75, and Child- Centered (with my main focus being the first two).

Monday, September 20 (Day 1)- What a mess!!! I have no idea how many pairs of underwear we went through. My guess, at least 50! And poor Connor had so many accidents, with all the 'practice' we had to do after each mishap, I bet he pulled his underwear up and down at least 150 times, literally! Of it all, I would say the worst part of the day were not all the mishaps, or that they continued to wet themselves as much in "Hour 10" as in "Hour 1" (ugh!), but it was the flaw of having a reward system with three little boys who wanted to do everything right.  My thinking... Since they were all learning this new skill, I certainly did not want to punish the 'accidents', rather I wanted to teach the appropriate behavior and reward it with success.  Unfortunately, all three did not succeed or have their mishaps at exactly the same time, which meant two were often rewarded with a special treat or prize for being dry, while I 'practiced' with the one who had an accident.  So for a great deal of time when the boys were 'practicing' after a mishap, they were also repeating in their ever sweet voices, "Sorry Mommy, Sorry!", while giving me their most pathetic looks.  I continually told them that they didn't do anything wrong, and that we just needed to practice to learn how to keep the underwear dry.  But their 2 year old brains just focused on the fact that they didn't get the special treat, and their brothers did.  It was heartbreaking.  Definitely not a fun way to spend the morning, afternoon AND evening!!!

Here ALL the boys are enjoying their special treat... Food in the family room!

 When putting the boys down to sleep that night, I was convinced that the boys were as frustrated with the whole potty training thing as I was, so I asked them if they wanted to wear diapers or underwear the next day. To my surprise (and disappointment), all three eagerly said "Underwear! Underwear!" while laughing and jumping in their cribs. Ugh, what did I start? I seriously wanted to quit the whole potty training thing, and go back to my original plan of training them next March!

Tuesday, September 21 (Day 2)~ Since all three were still having numerous accidents the night before, I decided to follow 'Day 1's agenda again. Lots of liquids, prizes, practice, and patience! By no means would I say it was a success, but it went MUCH better than the day before. And an added bonus, my mom came over and worked with them for 3 hours (I literally have the best mom on the planet!). The biggest success was Liam, who only had 2 accidents the whole day. Let me clarify, Liam went potty in his underwear 2 times, once was a true accident, and the other time he wet his underwear on purpose after seeing that his brother got Pixar's CARS underwear after a mishap (Liam wanted the CARS underwear too!!!). Imagine his disappointment when I came out with good old fashioned tighty-whiteys to replace his purposefully wet undies... I know, I'm mean!

Wednesday, September 22 (Day 3)~ Another improved day, and I couldn't be happier! In total, only 5 mishaps, with a lot of liquids and potty breaks every 30 minutes (rather than 20 minutes the day before).  I'll take it!!!

Thankfully the weather was absolutely perfect the entire week, so we spent just about every waking moment outside.  That not only helped the mind, with more things for the boys to do, but it also helped with the clean-up!!!

The boys definitely enjoyed all of the special drinks that allowed them to have lots of potty practice!  I should note that  before potty training, while at home I have only given the boys water and milk.  Now...  You name the liquid, they probably had it this week!


Thursday, September 23 (Day 4)~ In the middle of this day I realized that The Potty Boot Camp: Basic Training for Toddlers was the perfect guide to follow while training my boys.  No accidents in the morning (and they were going 45-50 minutes between potty breaks), and only one mishap in the afternoon/ evening.  Yippee!!!

Friday, September 24 (Day 5)~ The true test... Not only did the boys get dressed for the first time the entire week, but we actually left the house and headed over to the gym.  Once we got to the childcare, I took the boys to the bathroom, and to my surprise, there were no potty chairs.  So I had to teach them a few more things... how to get up on the stool, use the big toilet, do their business, wash their hands, etc.  I then reminded the boys to keep their underwear dry while I was gone, and to let one of the helpers know if they had to go potty.  To my delight, all three were dry when I picked them up an hour and 15 minutes later!  We used the gym's bathroom again, and then headed over to Burger King for a celebratory lunch.  All the boys were so excited that their underwear stayed dry, and I was smiling from ear to ear, so proud of my big boys!

We still have a way to go, as they still have accidents, are wearing diapers when they sleep, and need to go entirely too many times during the day.  BUT 5 days after the start, I am completely thrilled with the progress they made, AND that Days 1- 5 are behind us ;-). 

Upon reflecting on our experience, I would say that Day 1 was way worse than I anticipated (in fact I found it even more challenging than my nightmare!), but the rest of the days went much smoother, with more progress from day to day than I expected.  I also learned that I do not have quitters, since all three continued to try to get it right, and did not want to not go back to wearing diapers.  There is no way I could be more proud of my boys! 

My big boys!   

 

Way to go Liam, Aidan & Connor!!! 
Your Mommy is very proud of you!
Keep up the good work, PLEASE :-)!