Potty Training - Drum Roll Please

I have many friends who had their tots potty trained by 2 years old. Granted, they were only potty training one child at a time, but oh, how I envied them. But, not me, I had twins and I didn't even attempt to start potty training until the twins turned 3 years old. Largely, that decision was made upon one simple reason - my friends who did have multiples all told me "don't even bother trying to potty training your twins until 3 years old". Okay, I thought, 3 years old sounds good to me...these were, after all, veteran twins moms and they knew something about potty training twins! So, I waited 'til 3 years old. For those of you who follow this blog on a regular basis, you've heard me chronicle some of the pottying adventures - the good, the bad, the messy - of toilet training twins during the past 6 months.

Well, I am pleased to report...drum roll please...that I have finally got one of two potty trained. YES! YES! YES! Paige is potty trained. She wears big girl panties all day long, every day and tells me when she needs to go pee-pee and when she needs to go poo-poo. We can go out 'n about, ride in the car, go to the gym, go on playdates, you name it, she keeps her big girl panties dry and clean. YES! YES! YES! She does all the big girl stuff that comes with pottying too, initiates wiping her little bottom, flushing, washing hands. She does it all. I am also no longer putting her in pull-ups at her naptimes either and so far, she's been keeping her big girl panties dry and clean at naptimes too. So, that leaves just overnights - I'll probably keep Paige in pull-ups for overnights for a while because she's a deep, hard sleeper sleeping soundly an average of 10-12 hours per night still.

Taylor is also doing great with potty training but we're not quite there yet; although even with Taylor, I'm starting to see a finish line in our potty training adventures. I attribute some of her continued delays in potty training to her cerebral palsy. There's some sensory issues and motor coordination in play for her that still prevent her from successfully putting all the pieces together...and, that's okay. My methodology with Taylor is to give her the opportunity to use the big girl potty throughout the day with a little help from me, to praise her for every time she either pees or poops in the big girl potty, to reward her with her favorite potty treats - M&Ms, and to basically just make the overall experience for her fun, enjoyable and with no pressure whatsoever. I also want her to feel that she is successful and that she is doing what all the other big girls do. She will get it eventually, she just needs a little more time. In fact, I'd spoken with Taylor's doctors and her physical therapists not too long ago, and they mentioned that most kids with Taylor's type of cerebral palsy don't successfully acheive true independent potty training until closer to 4 years old, sometimes even 5 years old. Cool, I thought...so she'll be potty trained by the time she needs to start kindergarten, and that's really all that matters since for now I stay at home with her and have the luxury and ability to work with her at her own pace!

This has been such a major milestone - getting one of the two potty trained with dry panties all day long! Once Taylor is completely potty trained, parenting twins will be all downhill. Okay, not really but it will be such a wonderful thing to have both of the twins potty trained! I’m optimistic in another few months we will be there with Taylor, and I’ll have finally tamed the toilet – times two.