week ending oct 29, 2006

Week ending October 29, 2006: This week Alex moved out of his crib and into his big boy bed, the kids enjoyed a Halloween parade, and the whole rest of the week was about the potty, so if you are squeamish about such things, consider this fair warning. This potty training thing has taken over our whole lives. It started before their 2nd birthday when I bought a potty chair for them, and then there were books for both the kids and for us parents about potty training. And then my sister-in-law gave us a potty video with potty songs (♫Tra la la boom di-ay, I push my pants away, and while I’m standing there, pull down my under ware♫) that her kids watched when they were potty training. And then the kids couldn’t share a potty chair, so there were 2 chairs, and then we needed chair upstairs for middle-of-the nights, and during baths, so there were 3 potty chairs. And then there were potty treats (M&M’s and Mike-n-Ikes) for successful elimination completion. And then the kids got stressed when I’d ask them to sit on the potty and they weren’t able to produce, so a potty chart for putting star stickers on it was implemented so that they would get rewarded just for sitting on the potty even if they didn’t have to go (this was an issue because I they weren’t telling when they had to go, and I was guessing based on how long it been since the last time they went, so sometimes I’d ask them to sit on the potty, and they didn’t actually have to go). And then there were the big rewards for consistent potty use to encourage the kids to use the potty every time rather than just once-in-a-while. Now we basically live in the bathroom. This week we’ve been in the bathroom in the library, JC Penny, the grocery store, Boscov’s, TGI Friday’s, Crofton Elementary School, K-Mart, Target, and probably a few others. Being 3, the kids have trouble focusing on completing the series of tasks required to actually get out of the bathroom (1 pull garments down, 2 climb into potty, 3 produce, 4 wipe, 5 flush, 6 replace garments, 7 wash hands, 8 dry hands), so I’m constantly re-directing them, and it still takes about 15 minutes for the 3 of us to use the restroom. Anyway, it all seems to be paying off. Chloe hasn’t had an accident since Oct 16, and Alex is really starting to get the hang of it too. I thought Alex would get scared using strange restrooms, but as long as Chloe goes 1st, he is happy to try it. In this sense (and many others) he is lucky to have a twin sister.