Deputie Tribe: Potty Training Sucess

I am not sure how long we have been potty training now, but I think it's been 3-4 weeks.

We have two 18-month old daughters fully potty trained now!

We have even brought them to stores, Sunday church, Thursday church, grandma's house ect. and they are doing well.

They don't wet the bed every night or at naps. There are still a night here and there where they will pee in bed, but the majority of them are dry.

They now wear underwear and pants all day long and just tell me when they need to go potty.

So here is an overview of what we did:

Pants-free. Yes, they had accidents. When I saw pee running down their little legs, and they looked down at the strange sensation, I snatched them up and ran them to the potty and explained this is where they go potty.
Potties in every room. We brought the potties into every room with us so they could sit down when they had to go. This is because they don't really have good "holding" skills yet (aka their bladders aren't strong enough yet, or they just don't know how to work them properly).
Introduced panties. When they got a good grip on peeing on their own, place the panties on and explain, "We DO NOT go potty in our panties. We pull down our panties (demonstrate) and then we sit down and go potty (demonstrate). Then we pull up our panties (demonstrate)!" They will either think it's a diaper and pee/poop right in it (Alecia), or sit down and pee through their panties (Ahavah). Regardless, keep putting panties on them.
Try going to Sunday class/the store/outside. Now they really learn (need to be taught) to let someone know when they need to go potty. Pack extra clothes and plastic bags.
Place potties in stationary spots. Now the potties are in the bathroom/bedroom or where ever you want them. They can find the potty when they need to go. They can hold it long enough to go to the room with the potty and "pull down their pants" (with assistance) :).

*Night time training: We simply let them to naked every night (even still because they can't pull down their pants themselves, and I don't want to get up at 3am to pull down pants) and told them, "We DO NOT pee in our beds. There is your potty (pointing to potty in the bedroom), if you have to go, get up and go."

Funny story: We were on our way to the store and Ahavah started saying "I Poo! I Poo!" That is what she says when she needs to go potty. We asked her to hold it, but she started fussing louder. I turned to my husband and asked him what we should do?!? I suggested pulling over and letting her pee in the trees next to the road. He didn't like that idea. He wanted me to dump out my perfectly good cup of coffee and let her pee in my coffee cup! Then we remembered we had an oil tray in the trunk! We pulled into a culdasac and let Ahavah pee in the oil tray in the trunk! She held it like a champ! No accidents! :)

Another Funny Story: When we first started with Ahavah, she was crouched over in the corner of her room (naked) with a red face. I grabbed her and put her on the potty. Then I noticed a few turds on the carpet. SO I picked them up and flushed them down the toilet. Meanwhile, Ahavah had gotten up. I put the girls down for their nap, but I noticed that it still smelt like poop! I looked around and in the corner, tucked almost under Hayven's crib, was a pile of poop! Hahaha! I felt like I was training a dog to poop outside or something!

Anther funny story: During the time when we let the girls wear no pants or panties, Ahavah had scratched her bum. Then she decided she wanted to show me where my nose was. "Le nez!" she said proudly, while pointing to my nose. Then I smelt it! ... "Ewwww!" I replied. She, of course, thought it was hilarious and did it many more times. :)

**Don't get stressed out or be fearful of this time. Enjoy it! It's so great to see your little one take a step into more independence.**

**Also, it may seem like so much more work then having them in diapers, but that is only temporary! Their bladders mature and grow stronger and it's so much more freeing to just take them to the potty then to wipe off dirty butts.**

** All or nothing! Stop buying diapers. Commit! No diapers for nap, for night-time, for outting. You're done!**

If you have any questions, please contact me! :)