The end of an era

We started potty training boot camp today. As I lay in bed this morning, my thoughts drifted fondly to those little diaper bottoms and how much I would miss them. The way that diaper comes up so far on their back.. the way those diapers waggle when they are running away from me down the hall to hide in their room. Diapers are pretty dang cute.. even on two year olds.

But this is now. Now I am sitting here after a day of running dripping babies to the potty and I am F*&^ing exhausted. Funny thing is I gave Stephen this huge lecture last night about how he needed to be more patient because tomorrow (today) was going to be so tough and I was worried he might lose his temper. Ha. I am pretty sure that I almost punched Margot after she headed butted me in the chin tonight. Holy God in Heaven. What the cuss man?!

I have been talking up this whole experience for the last week. Getting the girls all excited about "not wearing diapers anymore!". They have been telling anyone who would listen that when Daddy comes home from school there will be "no diapers anymore!". They have been into going potty so I have indulged them and helped them out of their diapers whenever they said they needed to go.. and then put it all back on after they did/or didn't have some success. I got all the liquids I could think of that they would want to drink in large quantities. I read my little potty training e-book cover to cover several times. I have somewhere between 50-60 pairs of the cutest little panties you have ever seen. And of course.. M&Ms. Lots and lots of M&Ms. We were well prepared when we woke up this morning, ready to fight the good fight.

For the most part it has gone so much better than I ever expected. We got them up and put them in their big girls panties and t-shirts, turned up the heat in the house and girded our loins for the day ahead. They had about 7 accidents between them before lunch time and at least 10 successful pees on the potty. Pretty dang good I think! There were several giant waterfalls of Gatorade and apple juice pee and Stephen and I dutifully scooped up the offending party and raced them to the toilet in the hopes that they could finish there. Then we either cleaned up the pee trail that they left in our wake.. or doled out massive praise and an M&M when they were able to stem the tide long enough to get to the potty to finish. All in all we were really, really proud of them. And then we headed upstairs for nap time. AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER.....we finally closed the door on two exhausted girls who seemed too tired to fight anymore and were settled into their beds. I say "fight" because this was the time that our resident little manipulator (aka Margot Dagny) reared her little attitude. She didn't want to lay down for nap.. and what better way to stay up than to keep telling us that she had to go potty. Here is where the competitive nature of twins makes things infinitely more difficult as Ada screams that she has to go too. Both girls run happily to the potty.. where they may or may not actually go. If they went they were happy to jump down and run back to bed.. if they didn't go... they kept insisting (MARGOT) that they had to go and would scream and fight like the dickens if one of us tried to remove said child and take them back to bed. If we were successful in getting them back to bed.. it was only to renewed screaming about how badly they had to go potty. Back to the potty.. where nothing happened.. you can see where this is going. Who want to ignore a newly training toddler when they say they have go potty?! Better yet, who wants to clean up the mess if they happen to be right??

Ok. I know we could just put them in diapers or pull-ups at naps and at night time but given how well they have done during the day, it seems stupid and lazy to just put them in something disposable with the basic understanding that it will be ok if they have an accident. As it was, despite all the craziness.. they did NOT have any accident during nap time. True, they might have slept only 20 minutes.. but still.. mission accomplished. Since we just finished going through another 1 and 20 minute bedtime struggle.. my resolve is slipping slightly. It would be so much easier to just put them in the stinkin' pull ups that are sitting in their closet and shut the door and let whatever happens in there.. happen.

And then, just as I was writing this, our little wolf calling girl called out for me. I went upstairs and she tearful announced that she needed to go potty (really?!). I sceptically herded her down the hall to the potty.. and sure enough she went pee straight away. Then she fought me to stay on the potty to keep trying.. and I let her try for a few more moments and then finally talked her into heading back into the bedroom for night night. See? She knew she had to go and she called for help and then went. Would she have done that if she had a diaper on? Or would she have just gone in the diaper. It seems worth the craziness if the outcome is for the girls to be fully day/night potty trained by the end of it all. Who knows if that will happen. From where my tired body sits I still feel pretty hopeful. Ask me again same time tomorrow.