An Unexpected Gift

Tuesday Nov 16th we started potty training. Full force Potty Training Bootcamp. Oh my. We didn't start until about 4:00 after the kids got up from their naps. Diapers Off, check. Undies On, check. Frog Potties in position, check. M&M jar stocked, check. All of the provisions were in place. As of about 7:30 Tuesday night when it was time to put the kids to bed, Chance had gone through 9 pairs of his big boy undies...9 accidents on the floor...but he had successfully peed on the potty three times. Luci, fewer accidents but still some...and two potty successess. I loaded up all the dirty clothes and started a load of laundry since I knew Chance only had four pairs of clean undies left. Whew...tomorrow would be a long day.

After a rocky start, undies on...mom decided to go the commando approach. Cleaning poop off the floor was actually more appealing that cleaning out poopy underwear. So, commando it was. More pee accidents insued...but some more successes. It seemed like we spent almost the entire morning in the bathroom. Training two kids at once proves difficult because inevitably, one kid just wants to distract the other kid from being able to concentrate and get down to business...thus, no one pees. The kids were becoming visably stressed and so was mom...we had lunch and they took a much needed nap.

After nap, the lightbulbs finally went off. I couldn't believe it...not long after they got up both kids self initated and peed on the potty all by themself. For the rest of the night, there was not another single accident and much Singing, Dancing and M&M eating by all!

So we are now into week four and I will say that all is still going well. The kids are still wearing pull-ups for naps and bedtime, but around the house we are in undies all day. They are both peeing and pooping on the potty. We survived our first road trip to Nana and Papa's house with no accidents. It's especially nice to have a van during these trips as we just put Froggy in there with us and we can just stop and let the kids use it and not have to drag them into a dirty bathroom on the road.

We've taken small little trips to Hyvee, the library and playing at friends houses and walks around the neighborhood with hardly any accidents. I do take Froggy in the van with us and the kids are able to pee before we get out and go inside somewhere which helps a lot.

All in all, I'd say that this whole experience has been less stressful than I expected. We did have some little glitches with Luci going #2 due to some constipation after traveling but I think she might finally be back on track now.

I was thinking back to the first few days we were training. I had completely cleared my schedule and had no expectations about getting anything at all done around the house for those few days. As a result, my kids had my undivided attention. We played, we ran back and forth to the bathroom lots of times, we danced, we snuggled. I wasn't worried about the dishes in the sink, the laundry, the toys all over the house. I got to see my kids in a whole new light; trying and succeeding at doing something new, a huge new milestone for them. What a blessing. I just fell in love with them all over again seeing how proud they were of themselves. That's the true beauty about how God has designed our lives and the act of raising children. Just when you think you can't take another day of the particular stage you're in...you're out of that stage and on to the next one. New challenges await but also so many more fun times and new blessings. Thank you God for the unexpected gift of Potty Training.