Training

Guess what we're up to in the Bradley household.

Yep, potty training. Somewhat by accident. Here's how it went.

• Months ago, the boys started taking forever to fall asleep for naps.
• They then discovered that they could remove all their clothing, so they spent all their pre-nap and post-sleep crib time to remove their diapers and make a mess.
• A little sickness helped them fall asleep faster at naps but diaper removal was still a problem whenever I wasn't around.
• To eliminate this problem, I decided to just bite the bullet and get in there right when they wake up. Of course, when I started doing this, they began waking up at 6am instead of after 7am. So not awesome. Sometimes that doesn't work as well because I like to wait until they're both awake before going in and there's sometimes a lengthy gap. Still, the number of messes I've had to clean up has decreased tremendously.
• As they've shown greater prowess in using the potty before bath, I also started prompting them more often to use their potties. Moreover, this last week I've tried to consistently have them in the bathroom before and after sleep and soon after drinking.

Then, Tuesday. Dash woke up at the stroke of 6 and I waited until I thought I heard Liam as well. But upon entering their room, Liam still slept. He had woken up crying a couple times during the night, so, hoping to let him get a little more sleep, I took Dash out and wiped up his diaper area. But I'd forgotten to grab a new diaper and didn't want to risk the additional noise to retrieve one. So I let Dash roam free while we played in another room. He teetee'd in his potty right after I took off his diaper and stayed clean for 45 minutes. 

I finally woke up Liam and he went as well. Seeing Dash in his nakedness, Liam ran from his fresh diaper, so I let him be. I was shocked when Dash ran into the bathroom on his own, sat upon his throne and emptied his bladder like it aint no thang. Then Liam did it too! So they spent the morning like wild men and used their potties a zillion times, mostly without me saying anything (just one itty bitty accident, just once). Amazing.

I diapered them for nap- I'm not crazy (we've decided against putting them in toddler beds for now, I just can't see any way that could turn out well). Then the same pattern happened after nap (Liam even went number two! I hadn't gotten to the room fast enough to give Dash the opportunity, shucks). Until we went out (where they went on the public toilets, too) and bought underwear. They excitedly put on their train and car undies, wanting to try on each pair. Until they pee'd. And then pee'd in their underwear again. What?

So yesterday morning, they happily put on underwear again and changed pairs for at least 10 minutes. Once they chose the winning pairs, they pee'd in them. And then again. Finally, I tried them nekid again and they used the potty wonderfully. 

Dash actually started resisting underwear, which surprised me since he loved them earlier and nothing traumatic happened. But as the day went on, I got them wearing them and they had some accidents, some successful potty visits when prompted, and a couple of unprompted successful visits (which gives me hope!).

It seems as though underwear is enough like a diaper that they treat them the same. But they generally point out when they're having an accident, so at least the awareness is there. I know there's a school of thought that encourages naked potty training and not wearing underwear (nothing under pants when going out, pantsless when at home) for several months to get them out of the diaper habit. I think we'll try the underwear a bit more, see if any more improvement is made, then reevaluate.

But, hey, this is pretty dang exciting (and tiring) and I'm so impressed with these boys. Going in the potty on their own, psh, they're such awesome kids.