The POOP Predicament

Okay, does the “3-Day Potty Training Method” come with some fine print that I didn’t notice? I mean, does every toddler who ‘gets it’ understand it COMPLETELY? Does it mean that they NEVER again have setbacks once they get it in those first three days?

I know that this method doesn’t work for every toddler. Take mine for example; one understood it by day two, the other by month two.

But my toddler who did ‘get it’ still had accidents from time to time. One day she would go to the potty when she needed to pee without question, the next, she would happily sit in her wet underpants until I realized that she had had an accident. In fact, the one who took longer to train has been the one with the least amount of accidents.

So my question is… how many kids ‘get it’ completely in three days?

For us, it’s been a solid YEAR…you read that right…a YEAR of potty training! Times two!!

I know, you’re probably picturing a house full of potties, endless loads of laundry and pee puddles. Let me assure you that it hasn’t been like that. What it HAS been is a constant state of flux throughout the year. One week no accidents, the next week accidents daily. I’ve tried my best to predict what will happen next only to have one twin act one way and the other completely blindside me the next moment.

Let’s take pooping in the toilet or potty for example.

The girls seemed to completely grasp this idea immediately. I have pictures of little poops in the potty at the cottage during their first couple of weeks of potty training, only to have it completely derailed after getting hit with a bout of the stomach flu. The poor little things couldn’t get to the potty fast enough resulting in numerous underpant changes and a blow to their egos. Needless to say it ranged from an additional 6-9 months before we could tackle it successfully again.

Our one daughter, once she figured it out, would go and poop on the potty, dump it into the toilet herself and proceed to tell us about it afterwards. We were totally blown away!

Our other daughter refused. She seemed afraid of the idea of the ‘drop’ and would only go in her pull-ups. We got her to the point of realizing that it had to happen IN the bathroom, so when she had to go she would ask for her pull-up and stand by the toilet. Baby steps. And then one day (on Daddy’s watch of course lol), she got it! We had drawn a picture on the calendar (on the date of her choice) and when the date arrived she just did it. The week afterward she didn’t want her pull-ups anymore, but would continually try to hold it in out of fear of the toilet. But then the cutest thing happened (cute as far as pooping goes). The girls sat down in the bathroom together and pooped beside each other. They encouraged each other and had a great conversation and told us that they wanted the fan on and some privacy and they’ve never looked back.

But it’s been One. Full. Year. A full year of accidents, of trying to keep our cool and speak positively even when those accidents happened. A year of stickers and chocolates and charts.

Maybe the 3-day method is just to give us parents hope. Kind of an achievable task with an end in sight. If anyone told me that it would take me a year I might not have even wanted to start! Mind you, I don’t want my kids going to high school in diapers so I guess whenever, however it happens and no matter how long it takes, it’s all part of growing up…for the kids and the parents.