Potty Training Hiccups

I've heard several times that there are two things a toddler can control: 1) What s/he eats and 2) going potty. Our kids must have heard this statement too, because they are all finicky eaters and they definitely have their own ideas about using the potty.

PREP:
I was told by several friends that potty training will be "easier" if we waited until our kids were close to 3, so that's what we did. I felt like the girls were ready to use the potty for several months (I wasn't as confident about Jack), but I knew it would take a lot of time and effort on my part so I wanted to wait until they were really, really ready before we carved out the time to do it. So when they were 33 months old (about four weeks ago) Micah and I cleared our weekend and committed to both being home Saturday and Sunday with the goal of potty training our trio.

The week before we started potty training I did a lot of prep work. I got the potties ready, I made sticker charts, I bought a variety of drinks so that the kids would be pumped full of fluids so that they would pee more, I bought new cups, I laid out towels so that accidents wouldn't get on the carpet and furniture, I put out the underwear bins so that the kids could have fun choosing what to wear, I thought of a bunch of activities so that we would be entertained at home for most of the first week, and I got all of the laundry done so that we could focus on the kids. Potty training prep itself was exhausting!

POTTY TRAINING METHOD:
There are several schools of though on potty training, and we decided to go with the three day "boot camp" method. We felt like it would be easier overall if we put all of our time and effort into potty training for a few days, rather than dragging it on and on for weeks and months.

Our plan was to have the kids wear just underwear during the day and to put diapers back on for naps and night time, but ultimately each kid did his or her own thing as some liked to be naked from the waist down, some liked undies, and some preferred pants. Ultimately it didn't matter to us what they were (or were not) wearing, as long as they were having some success on the potty.

We also went with the method of watching them like a hawk and then getting them to the potty as soon as they started going, as opposed to dragging them there every 15 or 20 minutes and hoping they went. Since our kids are almost 3 and they are able to communicate well, this worked great for us. They also caught on very quickly so mostly they got themselves to the potty. I also believe our kids would have been very resistant to us putting them on the potty so often as we have strong-willed children. After every potty success we gave the kids M&M's and a sticker for their chart, in addition to letting them flush the toilet themselves.

Although most people would say that the potties should be in the bathroom so that the association is there, our downstairs bathroom is really small and we didn't feel like this would work very well, so we lined up the potties in the kitchen. Before having kids this would have grossed me out, but the practicality of it outweighed the "ewe factor," so I just went with it. We also have a couple of inserts that go on the regular toilet so that the kids can decide between their own potty or the big potty.

THE FIRST WEEK:
Originally I believed we would only be stuck at home for a few days, and then we would get back to our normal routine of doing things outside of the house. I was very naive in thinking it would click quickly and, although everyone did fairly well in the first week, going out in public with potty training triplets is exhausting, so for the most part we stayed home for a whole week.

During the first week, I recorded every success and accident, which was a lot to record, and it took me back to the early days when I recorded every diaper, every bottle, and every other little things that the babes did since it is so hard to keep track of it all when there are three babes! Here are the stats from the first week:

Day 1 (26 opportunities)
Lexi: 12 successes, 2 accidents
Jack: 3 successes, 4 accidents
Faith: 3 successes, 2 accidents
*Micah and I were both home

Faith and Jack with their new cups

Alexis drinking a smoothie with post nap hair

The girls soaking in the sun

Day 2 (22 opportunities)
Lexi: 11 successes, 2 accidents
Jack: 1 success, 4 accidents
Faith: 2 successes, 2 accidents
*Micah and I were both home

We tried to get a couple of small projects done at home while we were stuck there

Day 3 (19 opportunities)
Lexi: 7 successes, 2 accidents
Jack: 2 successes, 2 accidents
Faith: 4 successes, 2 accidents
*I was alone with the kids during the day

Sticker faces. The kids enjoyed this and I thought their results were amusing.

Day 4 (20 opportunities)
Lexi: 5 successes, 3 accidents
Jack: 3 successes, 1 accident
Faith: 8 successes, 0 accidents
*Val came over and we did our running swap, so I had 25 minutes alone outside of the house while she watched the kids for me. Micah climbed at night so it was a long day.

Day 5 (35 opportunities)
Lexi: 14 successes, 2 accidents
Jack: 1 success, 2 accidents
Faith: 15 successes, 1 accident
*Our early intervention therapists came over for a while in the morning and they brought fun activities, which was great since we had been stuck at home for 5 days and everyone was getting stir crazy. I got to get out of the house at night to climb.

Hooray for company and new activities!

Day 6 (25 opportunities)
Lexi: 13 successes, 2 accidents
Jack: 3 successes, 1 accident
Faith: 5 successes, 1 accident
*We had a couple of toddler friends and their moms over for a playdate in the morning. It was hard to hold a conversation while assisting the kids with the potty, but I was definitely grateful for the company. 
** OUR FIRST OUTING: Almost every Thursday we have dinner with our Community Group from church, so we ventured out to their house in the evening. There were a couple of pee accidents there, but luckily they happened outside and I knew everyone in the group would understand since they all have kids.

Day 7 (24 opportunities)
Lexi: 12 successes, 1 accidents
Jack: 4 successes, 3 accidents
Faith: 4 successes, 0 accident
*Micah had the opportunity to climb outside with a friend, so Val and her boys came over during the morning and we did another running swap and we dyed eggs with the kids.

Egg dyeing

The kids were excited about potty training at first, and overall things went great for both girls during the first week and we were very encouraged. Jack doesn't drink as much as the girls which means he doesn't have to pee as much, so it took him longer to recognize the feeling that he had to go.

We did put them all in diapers at nap and night time, but Lexi woke up dry from most naps and after a few nights she started waking up dry in the morning as well (although she woke up at least once during every night because she had to use the potty, so we were getting interrupted sleep).

THE SECOND WEEK:
During the second week we started to get out of the house a little bit. My mom came to town for a few days so I had some help, and we conquered the Botanic Garden and the zoo with only one accident. There were a ton of potty breaks, of course.

Botanic Garden

Zoo

A FEW WEEKS IN:
As time went on, though, it became apparent that although Jack was catching on like a potty pro, but the girls were becoming very resistant. The more I encouraged them to use the potty, the more they resisted, and the more frustrating potty training became. Over the last couple of weeks the resistance has gotten worse, which has been very stressful for me since I can't make them use the potty. Interestingly, they are more likely to use the potty when we are out of the house, which means I take numerous trips to the bathroom when we leave the house, but at home they don't want to do it.

We are now at the end of our fourth week of potty training and the girls are taking a break from it all. I am so thrilled that Jack is doing great with it all, and I know the girls have the ability to use the potty since they are great at recognizing the feeling and holding it, but it was getting to the point where they were holding it forever and they were in pain but refusing to use the potty, so I had to put them back in diapers. I don't believe they are fearful of the potty or that there was a specific trigger that made them both do this. I believe it all comes down to the fact that toddlers can't control many things in their lives and this is something that they can control, no matter how much we try to persuade them and bribe them.

I'm not sure how long the break will last, but I am hopeful that they will soon decide that they want to use the potty once and for all and that will be the end of the potty training stress. In the meantime, I am going to try to give them more choices throughout their day and I'll give them the option to use the potty if they want to use it, but I will stop pressuring them and reminding them to use it as the stress wasn't good for any of us.

Hooray for Jack! He surprised us all and I hope he doesn't revert back when he sees the girls in diapers as it feels good to have at least one child out of diapers during the day!