Breaking News!

Anna Claire and Mallory slept in big girl panties all night for the first time and had no accidents! This is huge.

They have been potty trained forever but have refused to sleep in big girl panties. A few times we've run out of pull~ups and tried to convince them to sleep in panties to no avail. They scream and holler and we make the trip to CVS to buy more pull~ups.

Last night we had movie night, so the girls were in their jammies early. After the movie they used the potty and went straight to bed...none of us thought twice about pull~ups until this morning when they woke up.

We made a huge deal about it and they are so proud of themselves. Right now they are excited to sleep in big girl panties again tonight. We'll wait and see if they still fell this way at bedtime {waterproof mattress pads are already on their beds...just in case}.

Starting a New Semester

You may remember that back in June Potty Training 101 was cancelled. Well, last week I re~enrolled Anna Claire and I am so happy to say that she is passing with flying colors. Mallory is auditing the class, so she is not totally invested in the experience at the moment. ;-)

So, I knew I wanted to try potty training again over Christmas break…partly because I knew Anna Claire was {still} ready, partly because their teachers at play school were going to start working a little on potty training, partly because Michelle was also planning to training Dylan, and partly because our experience over the summer, brief though it was, taught me a lot and I believed that now I was ready. Potty training is a huge commitment…it’s just as much about the children being ready as it is about the parents being ready.

I am still using the basic strategies from the 3~Day Potty Training method, paired with what I like to call the "gradual release of responsibility modified model for potty training" {based on my beliefs as an educator, of course ;-)} which basically means we started out slowly…

• we talked about wearing big girl panties and what it means to go potty a lot in the days before Christmas,
• Anna Claire wore big girl panties from breakfast up to nap time last Wednesday and Thursday {then pull~ups the rest of the day and when sleeping ~ we are day training only},
• Anna Claire switched to panties all day last Friday,
• we have made several trips in the car to and from my parents house in panties,
• Anna Claire has had only one accident since last Friday {it was Friday night; actually we all got a little preoccupied cleaning up the playroom}, and...
• today Anna Claire wore panties to playschool with no accidents!
• Oh, and m&m's help a lot.

We aren’t going pants~free and we don’t sit on the potty on any kind of schedule. I pretty much have just been asking Anna Claire about 6425 times a day to tell me if she has to go potty. Sometimes she says she does and we run to the potty, sometimes I see that look on her face and take her to the potty, and sometimes she just goes to use the potty all by herself and we only know about it after the fact. I know this sounds too easy. Do not worry. I have been warned about the possibility of regression and rebellion, and Mallory is living proof that not all children {even twin sisters} are ready to potty train at the same time.

Right now Mallory is wearing pull~ups during the day and a diaper at night, but we haven’t seen so much as a drop of pee~pee in the potty in weeks, though she will sit on the potty frequently and try to go. Mallory really wanted to wear big girl panties Sunday after dinner and she had three accidents in 45 minutes despite me asking her over and over if she had to go potty. She will be ready in her own time {it may be sooner, it may be later} and we are okay with that. The bottom line with Mallory is that she is so strong willed that I completely believe once she decides she wants to be potty trained, she’ll just do it and it will be done. I think she just hasn’t made up her mind yet and right now there is no convincing her otherwise. ;-)

Thanksgiving Feast {and a funny story}

Today was Anna Claire and Mallory's Thanksgiving feast at school. yummy. They got to go into the chapel and watch the kindergarteners perform their Thanksgiving play. Then they came back to their classroom for their feast {we provided the turkey sandwiches}. Of course, they wore traditional pilgrim & Indian hats. As you can see, Anna Claire and Mallory were Indians and Dylan was a pilgrim. {little turkeys...so hard to get all three to sit still with their hats ON and look at the camera}.

Why, do you ask, is Mallory not wearing her adorable, purchased~just~for~this~occasion brown, pink, and orange sweater dress with matching tights but is instead wearing her "emergency outfit" from her book bag? Funny story...

During diaper changing at school this morning Mallory {who has yet to show any consistent interest in the potty} decided she wanted to sit on the big girl potty. Before her teachers could catch her, she hopped up on the potty with all her clothes on, sat down, and proceeded to fall in! I asked her if she cried or laughed and she said she laughed.

Girls, I think it's time to give potty training another try. Maybe not this weekend. Let's just try to enjoy this long Thanksgiving break. But girls, come Christmas break, oh you better watch out!

Potty Please

Tonight I got the girls undressed in their room and rushed them off to the bathroom for their bath as I lagged behind gathering towels and jammies. On my way down the hall to the bathroom Mallory met me shouting that she had pooped in the potty.

And she sure did. For the first time. Ever.

I hadn't even asked her to try. She went all by herself. I'm so proud.

Potty Training 101

This class has been cancelled.

What. A. Day.

Is There a Hurricane Coming?

I just went to Publix and stockpiled the fridge and pantry. It made me feel like a hurricane was coming. The girls start potty training tomorrow and we'll be home bound for at least three days{oh, please, not longer}, so we needed lots of provisions.

Oh, Lord, be with us! We may just have our own hurricanes brewing ~ Hurricane Anna Claire and Hurricane Mallory!

{Did you know, by the way, that this year the "L" storm will be named Lisa and the "W" storm will be named Walter ? Ha!}

Sister Kisses

Tonight Mallory {!!!} pee~peed on the potty on purpose {like it wasn't an accident} for the first time. Before bath time I asked her if she needed to go and she said yes. And she sure was telling the truth! This makes me think she can "hold it" and that's huge!

Did I just buy my last box of diapers from Target yesterday?

Believe Her

When your little girl who is practically potty training herself in front of your eyes {Anna Claire...} looks up at you as she sits in the bathtub and tells you she has to poop ~ believe her.

Don't ask her once if she's sure.

Don't ask her twice.

Just believe her.

Potty Break

Anna Claire went pee pee in the potty tonight for the first time!

We aren't potty training yet, but we have had potties for a while and the girls do like to sit on them before bath time for fun. Their two-year-old attention spans usually get the best of them before anything "happens." Well, tonight Anna Claire jumped up from her potty shouting, "potty, potty!" and pointing. She was so proud of herself and we did make a very big deal, so much so that Mallory wanted to pee pee in the potty too, and I had to make her get in the bathtub when it didn't look like anything was going to happen. I think she may have sat there all night. I probably should have given her a little longer because the minute her feet hit the bath water...

;-)

Ladies in Waiting

We waited, and waited, and waited {for about 2 minutes} for something to happen before the girls had enough of that and tried to drag their new potties out the door. I really didn't want potties that looked like toys, but for $12.99 each, how could I resist? We'll be setting some ground rules tomorrow {like the potties stay in the bathroom}.For the record, Anna Claire has been very interested in the "big girl potty" for a while and is showing most of the readiness signs {Mallory - not so much}. I don't want to start real potty training until school's out and both the girls and I can be focused, but with Anna Claire showing so many signs, I certainly didn't want to deprive her of the opportunity to get started.

Stay tuned...this could get interesting!