When Catherine turned two I was preggo with Stephen. I started that summer with training her and quickly gave up. It turns out bending over to mop up messes was really tricking 6-9mos pregnant. At some point after Steve was born I tried again and by the time she was 3 we were done. She was night trained the summer she turned 3.
I waited longer with Steve. Having two babies 10 months behind him made me think twice about this ordeal. The summer he was about to turn 3 (he's an August baby). I gave it a shot. At first he was on board. Then he wasn't. I let him run in t-shirts and underpants. I let him pick the underpants. I stopped and started a lot with him. Until I finally relized he didn't like sitting. I taught him to stand. Bingo! done. Mostly. We started training Steve because he was waking up every morning with wet clothes. The extra laundry was anoying so I started making him go on the toilet before bed. This resulted in him being night trained before anything else. Shortly after he turned 3 he started pre-school and by the end of September or so he was done.
The twins turned 3 in June. So I started working on them this summer. After some trial and error I realized I had to do one child at a time or I would go insane. Josh showed promise so I went at it full on with him. If David showed any interest I would oblige but I wouldn't force it with him like I would with Josh. (when I potty train I don't use pull-ups, just underpants) For a week or two things were looking good and then I hit a wall. Accidents started happening and Josh just didn't care. So I stopped and decided to wait him out.
In the meantime, David started to express real interest. The first few attempts were total failures. But waiting for David to be ready was the best thing ever. Because by the end of the first week he was just about done. After a few setbacks and hurdles we got the job done. After a month or two he came to me and said I don't want to wear pull-ups to bed. I told him he had to wake up dry. He did. And I let him wear underpants to bed. Since then he's had three bedtime accidents and that's it.
Now Joshua. I decided a while back that I was done. No more diaper changes. No more pull-ups. I'm sick of it. So I came down on Joshua. More than a month (almost 2) later he's still not even close to done. The worst part is that he doesn't care. One day a week ago he cried when I told him I was putting on a pull-up to go out for a long trip. So I relented and let him have the underpants. He stayed dry until we got home. Then he had the accident on the way to the bathroom.
Today he made a royal mess. It took a long time to clean up. I was mad enough that he sat naked in an empty bathtub while I cleaned the carpet. He's clean now. And so are the clothes, tub and floor... but lesson learned? doubtful... Over the weekend he had a wet accident and in the process of cleaning himself up he took a nap. Again he didn't bother to tell me that he made a mess and he tried to fix it himself. He got tired and climbed into bed, naked, and took a nap. I found him later sleeping in bed, with no clothes on.
It hasn't been fun. Potty training. I hate it. I will be singing high praises when it is all done.
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