and no I'm not referring to any two-sies hitting the toilet. Those have all been misses. They should totally give you a huge warning before going into potty training that you need patience times a billion. I have had patience for three days. Accidents didn't phase me much and success was praised. Today (day #4) was the worst day yet. From the moment they woke up they refused to sit on the toilet. I have asked them to. I have told them to. I have set the timer and told them the timer says it's time. No. No. No. Crying no. Yelling no. Wet panties. Soiled panties. One or two successes from Seren. Zero for Kendall. I eased up and just tried to let them tell me when they wanted to go and only asked when they squirmed or were headed to the bathroom solo. Kendall told me she had to pee and sat on the potty. Nothing and then a minute or two later came to me with soggy underwear. She told me she had to poo and we looked at and read books on the potty for 5 minutes or more. A couple minutes after leaving the bathroom she came back to me saying she had to pee...but wait she had already pooped in her underwear. I lost my patience and cried in front of them...much to their dismay. I think they tried harder after that but still they would sit on the potties only to hop off and pee within minutes. Ugh!! Lunchtime came and after lunch I tried telling them to go to the potty again and was met with more "no!". I was irritated and mad. I yelled. I sent them to their room with pull ups on for a nap and called it an afternoon. Holy hell do I ever wish this was easier. Maybe that I had waited longer. That I was only potty training one at a time. Nap time hit and I drank most of a 2-liter of Dr Pepper (I don't drink alcohol so this is the best I could do HAHA), ate the rest of the M&Ms that were meant for their rewards and took a big giant chill pill. They are still sleeping and I'm devising my plan of attack for tomorrow.
- Feed them a good breakfast. The bad days seem to happen with cereal. Oatmeal and pancakes they devour and stick with them so that seems to help.
- Potty Training Mantra: If they aren't hiding it they are on the right track. In other words if they come to the bathroom or to me even after an accident then something must be clicking even a little bit.
So far that's all I've got. I need a magic pill for patience and I'll be set. Reading online that it can take months helps a little...it's depressing but it helps. Anyway more undies to wash and dry before this day is over.
Nap time is over and they are still refusing to sit on the potty when asked. Kendall sat for 5 or 10 minutes on her own with books and toys but no results. I am feeling done but they also say "no!" to going back in diapers. Is this totally normal defiance? How do you get past this stage?
Update: I read up and asked advice of parents online about the defiance and took the positive attention only approach. Don't get upset, don't give them power with "no" and just let it slide and positively reinforce everything you want to happen while ignoring things you don't. Things went better over the weekend. Perhaps because Jeff was there to help juggle the two. Perhaps it was the hearty breakfast of pancakes. Perhaps it was giving up some control and not pushing when they said "no". I did give in to Pull Ups for the road and a couple errands. They kept them dry once after being out for almost an hour. They peed or tried to pee at Grandma's house over the weekend. Seren pooped in the potty for Jeff. Kendall sat on the toilet at home on her own for 20 minutes or more reading books and playing games on the tablet.
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