After months of procrastinating, we finally had our Potty Party the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! We mostly followed the 'Potty Training in 3 Days' strategy, which entails staying home for 3 fun, long and crazy days...
The kids started off the day by throwing away all their diapers. They had picked out 'big boy' and 'big girl' undies with me a couple of weeks before their party and were very excited to be able to finally wear them:
I made the kids a banana bread cake for their potty party and we sang, 'Happy Potty Party to You!' every afternoon for all three days of the Potty Party (good thing I made such a big cake to last us all three days, and some :)
We have been doing stamps for trying and stickers on a sticker chart for going potty on the toilet. Tyce caught on pretty quickly and filled up his sticker chart (25 stickers) within about a week of training. I took him to the toy store to pick out a 'potty prize' after filling up his chart and he chose a remote control Thomas Train. He then quickly filled up a second chart and picked out a fire truck as a prize.
Shaylie is so happy for Tyce and his success with potty training, which is too cute :)
After the 3 days, we realized Shay wasn't quite ready to be in 'big girl' undies yet as she only went potty on the toilet about 2-3 times total after the 3 days.We decided it'd be best to put her in pull-ups and just let her go on the toilet whenever she wanted to or whenever it was her idea. As much as I really didn't want to use pull-ups, I really think this was a blessing-in-disguise as I think it'd have been pretty overwhelming to have two 2-year olds in 'big boy/girl' undies and dealing with accidents throughout the day--particularly when out and about.
I can remember one of our first outings after our Potty Party, I took them to Target and as soon as I loaded the kids in the stroller, Tyce told me he needed to go potty. I was prepared with their portable toilet seat (which I still can't believe that I carry around everywhere...at least it's hidden in its own special purse :), however, as soon as I put him on the toilet Shay announced (not surprisingly) that she had to go potty, too. Since she's in pull-ups I don't have to choose which child to let go potty first, which is quite a relief.
It's been about a month since we started potty training and Tyce is pretty well potty-trained. He still has occasional accidents, mostly when we're away from home and especially when playing outside. The hardest part about the accidents have been when he does a #2 in his undies, which he's done more times than I can count on one hand :( It wouldn't be such a big deal except that it usually means a bath because I haven't quite mastered taking off his undies without getting poopie all down his legs. I am mostly still reminding him to go potty and now only give him a sticker when he initiates it.
Shay has been doing pretty well in the past couple of weeks and will go potty on the toilet about 1-2 times per day (which she initiates). She needs about 5 more stickers before she'll get her first prize! :) Both kids are in pull-ups ('night time undies') during naps and at night.
Potty training is definitely an adventure. You just never know what these kiddos are going to surprise you with :) Occasionally, Tyce and Shay will request a little 'privacy' when they are on the toilet...this is how I found Tyce after about 1-2 minutes of privacy...the look on his face is priceless :)
