The Potty Push

The timing could not be worse but I think I need to potty train Corwyn ASAP.

A month ago, he was not physically ready. He would stand in front of the toilet and gleefully say 'peeeee' with nothing happening. And off he'd go to play only to have pee magically come out 5-10 minutes later. He wanted to go, he'd run to the bathroom but it didn't happen. I didn't push it. I didn't yell, I didn't offer shame. I cleaned up (and let him help if he wanted). The mind was ready the body wasn't.

But now, he's physically ready but unwilling. Last night, while getting him ready for bed he wanted to play diaperless. I asked if he wanted to pee in the toilet. He said no, he wanted to pee there (pointing to a spot on the floor). I repeated the toilet question. He repeated his insistence to pee on a specific spot on the floor and proceeded to do it (then dance around in it).

So I need to get him to want to pee in the toilet (or a potty) again. I wasn't huge on the rewards idea before because they wouldn't get it, but now I think I may try it.

But the timing from a home front could not be worse. Our regular caregiver had surgery last month and wont be back until Feb. We have a great fill in, but its not the same. Its a break in their routine and their days are much less structured. Nathan, while still potty trained, is having many, many more accidents then he used to have just because things are not as consistent.  Its affecting sleep and eating habits too. And while she should be back in February, she will still be doing some recovering and things will still be a bit messed up.

So what to do.

I think I'm going to go forward, if not starting this weekend, then next weekend.

Corwyn should be easy to motivate. He loves the Wiggles, anything Wiggles.  So I have some Wiggles stickers (I need to find them) for each pee/poop reward. The local toy store started to carry some Wiggles toys for the bigger rewards. And there are always Wiggles DVDs on ebay. So one sticker for each pee/poop with a finished row getting a bigger reward and a finished chart a DVD.

Nathan is harder to pick something for. And while he's potty trained, he sometimes wont bother if he's deep into play. So I was thinking for him a sticker for each dry day, each dry nap and each dry overnight. There needs to be as many opportunities daily for a sticker as his brother, but just not for the same reasons. Now I have to think what sticker and what rewards. I may go the Sesame Street route with something electronic at the end (he loves gadgets).

And yeah, each will 'borrow' whatever the other gets, or have to share it (movie) but that is the nature of any sibling, more so with twins.

Anyway, that's where I am right now. What's up with your family?