Potty Training: Success and Stress

We have had both girls successfully go in the potty! Alison has gone several times! Lisa has gone #1 a handful of times. So far we’re doing pretty good I think.

However, can I just say that potty training is stressful? Not for the twins… for me! We finally bought a second potty seat, just one that sits in the toilet seat: it’s Alison’s preferred method anyways (and ours too! No clean up!). But, the reason it seems to be so stressful is because I want to keep some order! I have both of them in this little bathroom with me and have one or both of them pulling down their pants, trying to read magazines, trying to flush the toilet, trying to wash or dry their hands, and using all the toilet paper, seemingly all at once! With two half-dressed children running around, I get stressed!

But, despite the stress, and my lack of patience at times, we are having quite a bit of success with Alison! She has used the toilet to relieve herself (#1 and 2) about a dozen times now! She has a number of times told me she had to use the potty (with sign language, or going to the bathroom door, or simply pulling down her pants to let me know) and then gone as soon as she was on the toilet! Success!

However, there are also many more times when she gets on the toilet for 30 seconds, wants to wipe (toilet paper is so fun!), flush the toilet (flushing the toilet is so fun!), wave and say “bye-bye” to the water in the toilet (how fun to watch the toilet water swirl!), wash her hands (playing with water is so much fun!), and dry her hands, only to repeat the process again and again… though never actually relieving herself! That is when my patience flees and I hastily put diapers and pants back on and kick my kids out of the bathroom!

I know that I need to remain calm, because I don’t want potty-time to be stressful for them so they no longer are excited about it, but its hard, at least with twins. I didn’t want to train both of them at the same time. I actually wanted to train Lisa first, but Alison has surprised us both with how excited and understanding she seems about it. We are working harder with her, but Lisa wants to get in on the action too, and not be left alone outside the bathroom door. I hope that we will continue to have more success and get a better grasp on the time we spend in the bathroom.

If you have any suggestions for staying calm, upbeat, positive, and happy while potty training twins or even a singleton, I’d love to hear it, because it’s stressing me out!

*Sorry for the vent! Writing it actually made me feel more stressed… hmmm, guess I do need the help!