The potty training chronicles, part two

Part two, as in this is the second time I have done this. The first time did not get a blog post. All in all, the first time was fairly uneventful. This post, however, has literally been months in the making.

It all started last August. Yes, August. I prefer potty training twins separately (because there is only so much I can take), and we planned to start with Helen. Because she is a girl. Because girls are easier than boys (right?). Because she had already gone in the potty several times. Because she showed every. single. sign of being ready to potty train. Because she wanted to do it.

Her teacher and I planned to start her the day after Labor Day. But then the week before that, Helen really wanted to do it. So her teacher suggested she wear underwear to school the next day. We went to Target, picked out some undies (incidentally, when you are the sole girl surrounded by boys, they are "undies," not "panties"), and off she went to school. She came home at the end of the day, and she had not had a single accident. Not one.

I almost wrote this post that day.

She had only a couple of accidents the next few days. Then it went downhill. She refused to use the toilet altogether. She had LOTS of accidents. At school. At home. And best of all, often while we were out and about. And the wet clothes were nothing compared to the poop. She pooped in her underwear, or held her poop, or both (meaning that she would hold it until when she finally had to poop in her underwear, it was a huge, huge amount -- fun, fun). This went on for months. We would have stopped, except that by this time I had figured out that this wasn't about capability, it was about her stubbornness. And the only one in the family more stubborn than Helen is . . . me.

Will, meanwhile, showed zero signs of being ready to potty train. And since he was scheduled for surgery in October for hypospadias, our pediatrican recommended waiting until he had recovered before even thinking about potty training. I did not have to be talked into waiting.

So, the surgery and his recovery behind us, we finally bought Will some undies too. Then, one weekend in November, we spent Saturday with bare butts and Sundays with only underwear on (the kids, that is, not us). At this point, Will had never once used the toilet. I think he may have sat there once or twice, but he clearly did not even understand its function. But after a few accidents clued him in and he suddenly understood the purpose of sitting on the thing, he was a champ. We sent him to school Monday fully potty trained after only two days. He had a few accidents after that, but very few. Probably less than ten total since last November.

Helen, meanwhile, not so much. Her brother's copious collection of jelly beans and stickers for his sticker chart was somewhat motivating--but only in that she would use the potty right after he did, so she could keep up on rewards. She could even control herself enough to go several times right in a row (so as to amass more stickers). But she still didn't go every time that she needed to.

Finally, in late January she moved up into another class at school, and all the kids in that class are potty trained. And peer pressure can be a wonderful thing. She has been fully potty trained ever since.

That left only one remaining item. Will needed to learn how to pee standing up.

Charlie and Joseph did this almost immediately after they potty trained. I found out they had been standing up at school, so I told them to do that way all the time. Done.

Will, however, was having none of the standing up business. He could talk a big game, but when it came down to doing it, NO. CAN. DO. We changed the rules so that jelly beans were earned only if he went standing up. That had an impact--as in lots of crying and whining--but did not achieve the desired result.

Standing up may not seem like a big deal, but we have to take FOUR kids to the restroom (sometimes together, sometimes serially) in a restaurant, store, sporting event, airport, etc. -- and Will insisted on getting completely undressed to sit on the throne. Standing up would just make it all easier, and I'm all about easy.

Finally, finally, a few weeks ago he did it. And we are done.

And now, we hold the league record for time spent in port-a-potties at the little league baseball fields. But I'll take it.