wantingababymaas-Bleacher-Report: Triplet Potty Diaries

Its been a long process, this potty training business & thus this blog entry is LONG (consider yourself warned!)

Also know,
I am FAR from an expert. FAR.
And I have done it using FAR from perfect methods. FAR.
And I also am not 100% on the finished side.
So take my "wisdom" with a grain of salt.
But a few friends are entering this wonderful world of potty training. And its got me re-thinking our process.

Here's what I have learned:

1. There is no magic time. For some people its 18 months, for some its 3 years. Whenever you are ready AND they are ready is the right time.
2. In my experience (and the opinions of most people) girls are MUCH EASIER!!
3. If you have multiples don't think you have to do it in one big swoop. It was pretty daunting taking on both boys at once. Doing 3 of them (or more) all at one time would be pretty overwhelming. Plus it was nice to have one who I could trust to stay dry before wandering out with 2 looming accidents.
4. There are levels of "potty trained." That pharse is too small in my humble opinion. There is daytime trained, pee trained, poop trained, nap trained & night trained. Even at home trained vs out of the house trained. Or per my experiences anyway.
5. Diapers are WAY easier. Potty trained toddlers are a LOT more work! But not making a trip to fill up an entire cart with diapers & wipes does eventually make the work worth it!
6. Buy a little potty early. I mean like a YEAR early. Get them used to it. I liked not fighting a "scared" battle with the potty. And how better to know if they are ready than if they have had a chance to practice for a year?
7. If you have mulitples, buy a little potty for each one. Trust me! It will be worth the $$ spent to save on fights & accidents over who goes first if they can all sit atop their throne at the same time. And don't buy anything expensive & fancy. Its a potty!! You're just going to throw it out eventually anyway.
8. Nudity. (Thanks Kerry!!) Unless you are using plastic panties or pull-ups, accidents WILL hit the floor. So why not skip the laundry? And let them physically SEE their accidents? Heck, we haven't even entered the phase of spilled red Kool-aid, whats a little pee to top off all that curdled formula puke that our carpet already survived? Going to have to get new carpet sometime anyways.
9. Jelly beans!!!
10. "Shaving soap"
11. Fish....or whatever other little cheap, novel item floats the boat of your tot. Bribery is amazing!
12. Do NOT be like me....Skip the pull-ups. I really didn't use them with Olivia.  Maybe like 10 times ever. But I do with the boys when we are out of the house. For MY safety net. And never at home.  I'm sure to some extent it has hindered them? Maybe? Not much different than a diaper really. With the 3 of them however, I wouldn't have been able to get out of the house without that safety net. So it might take them a little longer to master because I use some pull-ups... it might have saved my sanity too?
13. People like my friend Sarah, rave about the 3 day method. Didn't use it myself. Maybe its really that easy? 3 days & done? Can't say I used a "method" at all. The nudity-jelly bean-patience method I guess. Not much of a parenting-book reader, I kinda prefer to wing it. Do whatever style or method works for your family. Or make up your own! But expect it to take time. The best things in life are worth waiting for, right?
14. Not a big fan of the whole "take them potty on a set schedule" thing. Like 15 or 30 minute increments. Thats training YOU! Not teaching them to control whats going on. Just remind them often NOT to pee on the floor & let them make the decision when to go. Haven't you learned a lot from your mistakes in life? Let them learn from theirs too.
15. In my experiences, a potty regression is normal. NORMAL! Just keep plugging along, don't give up. It might feel like you took 10 steps back, but they'll bounce back better than they were.
16. Teach your kids in public bathrooms that they HAVE to keep their hands somewhere. I tell mine they HAVE to keep them on their belly. I threaten. Otherwise there are 6 hands on toilet seats, opening doors, in trash cans, on floors. GROSS! I swear I talk the WHOLE time we are in there. I repeat "keep your hands on your belly or ___ will happen" probably 40 times in a potty break. I wash hands... & then use hand sanitizer when we get out. (Because they all touch the trashcan to throw away their own towel & want to help open doors or re-touch something.) Infact I keep meaning to put a little stash of jelly beans in my purse so if you don't touch anything while in a public restroom, you get a reward.
17. Hospitals apparently are a factor for my kids. Not sayin' you should get your kid hospitalized to PT, but Liv came home from her 4 day stent with RSV trained. And Hayd has been accident free since his tonsillectomy. Coincidence??
18. Water bill. Flushing for 3 more people, including Hayden who goes every seemingly 40x a day. Plus they all WANT to flush for themselves. And Livi could spend 30 minutes each time washing her hands. The water bill will increase (still cheaper than diapers though).
19. Do it when someone you know is. Not that its a contest or that you need someone to compare notes with along the way. But on a bad day its nice to remind yourself "So & so's not giving up! I can't either!"
20. Be prepared for pee & poop to be a regular part of your vocabulary. In Walmart. On walks. Wherever you go there are mentions of pee & poop. Parenthood is a humbling experience isn't it?

So there it is, thats what I know.
Want to compare notes?

What things did you learn from PT that you didn't anticipate? What tricks worked for you?
And how long after being daytime trained were your kids night-trained?

And finally, where are we exactly these days on our crazy triplet potty journey?

Olivia... perfect! She is rarely even wet in the mornings. Like maybe 2x this past month. Pretty self sufficient. She can even wash her hands all by herself & actually wash them well. Self-sufficient....except how do you teach little girls to wipe?? And at what age are they REALLY capable of that?

We started accidentally with the boys 3 months ago. (April 27 to be exact!) Some people warned me to expect it to take a full 6 months to feel REALLY comfortable getting out of the house with the boys. So taking that into consideration I think we are doing well.

Since surgery... Hayden is like a new potty man. Jeff was so done dealing with his accidents & ready to put him back in diapers pre-tonsillectomy. And now.... I can't remember his last daytime accident. Probably in the hospital?  He is really like a whole new man post-op all together though. So much more cheerful, talkative & easy going. He must have been pretty miserable & not sleeping well. So glad we took them out, so glad! But I digress, he poops in the potty on his own & yells out for us to wipe his butt when he is done (or comes running out asking for jelly beans.) He is wet most of the time when he sleeps. But woke up from nap dry 2x last week & the past two days as well, so we might be starting that phase of dry naps soon too. I really don't think he physically has the ability to go long enough to make it at night since he goes about every 30-45 mins most days all day. Yes, we LIVE in the bathroom. He usually uses the little potty because he likes to do it all by himself & declare "I did it!! Get jelly beans." (Which we are pretty much weaned off of.) But he's finally really got it I think. I think he is over his regression & he's pretty much got it mastered. Now just trying to teach him to put his panties & pants back ON by himself. One of these days I won't be running a nudist colony over here ;) I'm officially declaring him daytime training done!!

Logan though has apparently traded spots with Hayden. He did so awesome in the beginning & was doing better than Hayden up until 4 weeks ago, but I think we are in his "regression" phase. I've come to expect that as normal. He does well when naked... has an occasional accident. And is almost 100% guarnteed to pee in a pull-up when they are used. (Which I should stop doing out of the house too, I should. But its SCARY!!! Manhandling 3 kids & cleaning up an accident or 2 accidents!) He can't go by himself, because he strains so hard to push the pee out fast it shoots up & he always ends up getting pee on himself & the potty & the floor, which he hates. So he INSISTS someone has to "hold my pee-pee down" while he pees. Doesn't matter on what potty. I've tried to teach him to hold it down himself, but he's going to end up ripping the thing off, so we just help & avoid that happening at all costs :) He usually poops within 10 minutes of being put in a nap or nightime diaper, so we've got some work to do there.  It took Livi 4 monts to master the poop fear too, so it too will come. Right? Patience. At least he doesn't poop on the floor, he holds it until he has a sleep-time pull-up/diaper to do it in. So I know he HAS the control, just scared to use it I guess. He is wet by nap & night too, & really I'm fine with that. They're just 2.5. It will come. I'm just finding it hard to dedicate time to him (or his poop issues) like I did with Olivia. Because then it was just her & the boys were easy because they were in diapers. Its hard to keep up with Hayden's potty, Livi's wiping & find time & energy to fight over poop. We already LIVE in that bathroom & that bathroom exhausts me! It took some tears & bribery to get Livi poop trained... trying to think of what might motivate Logan? Really beyond poop... he is 90% done.

This is what we did today after declaring Hayden potty trained!

Livi wanted a baby highchair for being potty trained. For Hayden's PT present he picked fish! We had fun fish shopping today!

We are the proud owners of 3 little blue fish (or Dori fish as Hayden calls them) & 3 little black & white tiger fish.

He LOVES them!!

Sits & talks to them in a little voice like you would talk to a newborn baby. "Hi fish." "What ya doin' fish?" "See ya later fish."

Logan checking out the fish. He says he wants a Nemo fish when he gets potty trained. So we told him he can get some money everytime he poops in the potty so he gets lots of money to buy a fish too! We'll see how it goes? He also knows he can help feed the fish at night if he doesn't have any accidents. He sat nice tonight & watched Hayden & Olivia feed the fish & tried really hard to poop twice afterwards. So hopefully this motivates him!