How Did it Really Go?

Friday morning I had a few crafts I wanted to try with the girls. Thursday I took out what I needed so it would be easy and at arms reach to do the craft.

I thought it would be funny to share the fails and accomplishments of our crafts.

First was noise makers. I took two plates left over from their birthday party, laid some dry rice on one plate, taped a spoon to it and turned the other plate over on top of it. I taped the ends together and ta-da! Plate maraca's!

How did it really go? The girls kept trying to scoop the dry rice with their spoons as I was prepping the plates and cried cause I wouldn't let them eat it. They were impatient and started to fiddle with the plates and I ended up getting impatient with the mess they were making.
When I finally finished them they used them as make shift swords and smacked them into each others and the floor causing little bits of rice to fly out of unseen holes left open in them.
They weren't made for such torture and were flimsy.
The only thing that truly occupied them with the noise makers was the 30 seconds they took to color them.

Next! I had yarn and cheerio's and wanted to make cheerio necklaces to work on their fine motor skills, play with and munch on.

How did it really go?? Lilly held the ball of yarn while I went to get scissors and the Cheerio's and for some reason the ball of yarn scared the daylights out of Rose. So Rose came screaming after me for safety while Lilly followed with her big wad of yarn. Rose tried to climb on top of my head.
Lilly ran back to the living room and managed to get yarn wrapped around her torso and leg, and when I say wrapped I mean it was draped over her some and it was just sticking to her.
Nevertheless she freaked out and cried about it.
I removed it and cut them each and myself a string and showed them what to do.
I had placed the Cheerio's in cups for them to easily access. Instead of putting it on string they played with the cups, pouring the cereal in and out of them, then found toy buckets and poured them in and out of there.
Lilly tried to eat off the string I had put some cereal on and looked at me angry after her attempt. Like what kind of sick joke was this I was playing on her.
I ended up just pulling them off the string and into her bucket. Grabbed a couple more cups and said to go to town.
They had more fun pouring the stuff back and forth in different things.

Later a small piece of yarn was found by the girls on the couch and they both watched over it like it was an alien. I picked it up and they had shear amazement of my super power to pick up and not fear the piece of yarn.

Yesterday.
I made play dough.
It was a new recipe I tried where I didn't have to cook it. Which I thought would make it faster. It probably would have been but I made the clay then tried to add food coloring after cause I wanted divide it up to make different colors. But the color is suppose to go in before its mixed and still wet so it combines easy. I ended up with quite a good work out kneading it over and over to get the color in.

The recipe was:
3 Cups of flour
1 Cup of cold water
1 Cup of salt
2 Tsp of oil
Food coloring

I only made half the amount to test it and make sure it was worth using again.
It turned out too dry, I added more water and oil till I felt it was more pliable but it still felt a bit dry.

How did it really go?? Not bad! Lilly, my mini chef in training, loves to help in the kitchen. She had fun helping me make the play dough and then we sat on the kitchen floor and played.
Rose and Daniel joined in and we spent a lot of time and had a lot of fun sticking toothpicks in them, making balls and rolling them, shaping them into animals and listening to the girls make the animal sounds. It was definitely worth it in the end but I would use a different recipe next time. The dough was drying out as we were playing.

Last night we prepped the girls for their bath and I took an ice cube tray and added to each mold:
1 part Cornstarch
1 part Water
1 drop of Soap from their bath soap
& 1drop of Food coloring

Mixed each one and made about 8 colors. Grabbed a couple paint brushes and let them go to town painting the tub.

How did it really go??
WONDERFUL! It was so fun! The girls played and played and probably would have played all night if we didn't end it at one point. They colored the walls of the tub and sides, talked about the colors and I praised their amazing art work. I enjoyed it as much as they did and I wasn't even coloring. I loved watching them play and experiment all's while getting messy in a place that was easy to clean and clean them as they played.
The one drop of color made the paint vibrant but never colored them or the water enough to stain them or make it difficult to clean them.
Rose pretended to paint her nails at one point which was adorable to watch.
When we were done I just used the bath water as it drained to clear off the walls and took just a few seconds to clean!
Totally going to be our new activity during bath!!

Never know how it will really go until we do it. But if it doesn't go well, it's funny to look back on and laugh. And if it goes well, then we have something new to keep the girls having fun! 

Potty Training: Last Post

I'm writing my last post on potty training, or dedicated post.

(Here are Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Days 4-6)

We started on Saturday January 12th potty training our twin recently turned two year olds. The take I took on potty training was from friends and a couple mom blogs. I took what I felt would work for my girls and threw out what wasn't going to work or what didn't work.

The most complicated thing out of all this potty training, was potty training two at the same time. (duh)
Really, only because I have two daughters that even though are only 4 minutes apart in age, they are way more distant in personality and needs. Trying to do the exact same take at the exact same time for two different little people didn't work. By the end of each night I knew I had to alter one thing or another for one child or another.

We started with a semi already knew what she was doing Lilly and a scared for her life to sit on her potty chair Rose.

Day's 1-6 are already posted and blogged.

Here is day 7 & 8

Friday I was home all day and the girls did amazing! Besides one accident each in the morning they both went on their own the rest of the day. The girls were bare from the waist down still. I ended up on the phone with one of my sisters for a good long while and though I tried to constantly remind them if they had to pee they needed to go to the potty, I didn't feel quite on top of it on the phone. Regardless, they each went several times and whenever one went the other would applaud them.

I can always count on my girls being good mama's to each other.

Then lo and behold, Rose pooped.
hahaahaa....  I don't know.. it is funny to me that I am blogging about poop.
I was on the phone with Brenda still and my words after my shower of praise on Rose was, "She just pooped like a man!" For real I had no idea something so big could come out of someone so small!!

But I was so proud! My child who we almost felt helpless for, who refused to sit, like the seat was covered in acid, was the first to poop! And she did again Saturday.

We had dinner plans that night and I was rushing to get things done. I walked into the kitchen and walked back into the living room and there was a potty seat with potty in it. I had no idea who peed. No one called out to me to say they were going. No one came to ask for their treat after they went.
James my brother (& sitter) was on the couch and I asked him if he saw who went.
Of course he didn't.
It was mystery pee.
But I was impressed still that someone went all on their own!

I felt accomplished that night. 

Day 8

Daniel was home. I wanted to do underwear and pants, since we had church the day after and I wanted them to be use to being clothed and not have accidents. Clothing still brings a sense of security to them.
The morning we did the norm with nothing on from the waist down. They did perfect. No accidents.
It was so nice to have Daniel home again and have extra help!!
After their nap was the tough part when we had them completely clothed. Rose couldn't seem to get a handle on having clothes on and understanding she still needed to go to the potty. She had maybe three accidents and we just went back to bare. Lilly did fine. No accidents!

Though the evening was a little rough, I still feel overall the day went great.

Today is day 9.
The girls moved up in church to a class room setting. I was so excited for them to experience a class, learn about Jesus at church with other kids their age, through music, crafts and stories out of the Bible. This class also understands at this age there are potty trainers, so they would do their best to help.
We put the girls in underwear but put pullups on top then their normal clothes.
This was so I wouldn't be super worried about messes, but the girls will still feel the accident, if they had one.
They stayed dry the whole time!
They were so happy when we came to get them from class! They were playing and though Lilly got a little overwhelmed as she usually does when she sees us, Rose was jumping and laughing as she walked/jumped towards us. They had a lot of fun. And brought home their first craft from church.
Proud mama moment x100!!

We let the girls play outside but I think that was kind of distracting to them. We had an accident from Lilly and a couple from Rose.
By evening we were back to bare for ease.

We did our normal Sunday night routine, dinner, bath, & chocolate milk while we cuddle on the couch watching Brave. And I felt good about our long week trek.
We still have them wear a diaper at nap and at night. But hey, that's only 4 diapers total a day now!!

Okay so I did day 9 too.

I don't really know my exact expectations were at this point. I'm not really sure if all the people who do the bare from the waist down 3-4 days straight have completely accident free children by the end of day 4. Or if they have accidents and that it's a 'boot camp' for the first 3-4 days to have the kids have it figured out, but it's still a process for X amount of days, or weeks or months.

I feel like for my girls, we all made great progress. I learned to have better patience in all this and it helps that they have really figured this whole thing out.
I spend more time being proud and reassured by my determination than being frustrated like I was last week.

I have a few things to still get down with the girls.
1. Be able to wear clothes and not have accidents
2. Be outside and not be too distracted that they have accidents
3. To get them to sit on the toilet at home with a potty cover to prep them for trips outside of home and they have to go.
4. Go potty outside of home. Store, church, library or wherever.

I may not have 100% potty trained children, but I have two recently turned two year old girls very close and moving in that direction.
Someday this whole thing will be looked at like it wasn't that big of a deal. I'll tell them when their all grown up with kids of their own asking me how I did it with them, to go back to my blog and read it. I know me, my mind will sugar coat this whole mess and I'll say it was so easy and it took no time at all, and I am just mega super mom.

That last part isn't sugar coated though. I am a mega super mom! I mean c'mon, I potty trained two two year olds at the same time! I need a cape.

 The girls playing outside, on daddy and pretending to be asleep on the couch.

 Daniel's face... lol

Potty Training Day 4, 5 & 6

Day 4, 5 & 6

Well, I didn't have the girls all day for Days 4 & 5.

From what mom said, the girls both stopped peeing. Hahaha. But true.
They didn't pee all morning both days and afternoon Lilly went when she needed to with no accidents and Rose had one I think and then one in her potty. Both days were like this. Except day 5 Rose peed on my mom, but peed in her potty right after mom explained that Rose had wet her and where to properly pee. Way to go Mom!!

So thankful for my mom continuing this whole potty parade for us while we work.

Today I was home and we do story time at the library on Thursdays so this was the major test here. Can Lilly hold it while we're out? And can she tell me when she has to potty? Basically will I not be embarrassed that my child peed on the floor in the library in front of other people in public...
Rose wore a Pull Up cause we all know she's not quite ready for outings free of diapers yet.
Lilly just had her underwear and she didn't have any accidents. In fact she didn't pee once this morning. Which wasn't what I wanted but it did keep from drama happening.

Too bad the girls were so out of it at story time. Lilly cried the whole time and Rose just wanted to play with the zipper on her jacket. They sang 'If Your Happy and You Know It' and Lilly was dragging her fingers down her face whining which gave her a major morbid looking face. Chris and Jenn were at the library too with Saylor and Chris was just laughing at the irony of Lilly's face and the song we were singing. Thanks Chris.
The only time they were happy is when Jenn walked them out through and of the library to the car, Lilly practically threw herself out of my arms so she could have the pleasure of holding Jenn's hand. Thanks Jenn.

We went to Target for a quick run after and the girls did great! No accidents... well I mean Lilly did great. Rose peed some time along the way of our outing.

I brought one of the potty chairs and put in the back of the Acura so just in case I had their size chair. I had stuffed a potty seat that sits on a toilet in their diaper bag in case they needed to go while we were in the library or target. I was afraid they'd freak out with the toilet but I never got the chance (yet) to find out if they would.

I was totally frustrated with Lilly this morning though. She did her refusal of leaving her chair so she wouldn't have any accidents and she sat there for almost an hour and a half. She never went and missed out on lunch because she wouldn't get up. I have to still work on that. It made me feel like an awful mom losing my patience with her :(

This evening went great. With Daniel around my patience meter goes up. The girls both ate dinner and Lilly was talked into stepping outside the box (or potty) and they both went when they needed to with no accidents!!
Rose pulled her underwear up and down about 30 times for fun but I considered it great practice.
I am proud mama tonight!

So here's an image of this new potty training underwear. Normal, yet still too big ones for comparison and the cover.

I was pretty surprised by the size but it fit. I got size 12-18 mo for the covers as the reviews for them said they were over sized and another woman said her 3 yr old fit into 12-18 mo. I listen to you reviewing public!
I feel like it's definitely made a difference for Rose, she doesn't like the wet feeling, she can't escape it and so she has been telling me she has to go. And I love that with the covers over the underwear there's no leaks (so far).

Hoping the girls keep moving forward!! Seems like we are just going that direction. :)

Here's Rose trying to help Lilly wear some special padded underwear :P

Here is Day 1, Day 2 & Day 3

Potty Trainging Day 3

Day 3 :

I wasn't sure if I wanted to blog this now or wait. But I guess a fresh mind is better.

I think I better start with Lilly. I am so proud. She has it down.
She didn't cling to her potty today. I feel it helped that I laid out an old swaddle blanket and let her sit on it. She doesn't like siting on the cold tile floor and that blanket was like a boat on an icy ocean to her. She happily sat and played and we did watch Cars 2 by request- twice. She wasn't too distracted and she plainly told me she had to pee pee and I told her to use her potty and she did.
It was 3 out of 3 this morning for her and 3 out of 4 this evening.
She only had an accident cause I again tried underwear so she could get a feel for it (plus she looks so cute styling her big girl underpants) She loves them but again that false sense of security and she let it go. She was so upset about it. I blame it on me. She needs more time.

Now Rose....
Oh what to say about this child.
I felt like it was day one again. She held every drop she could in.
In the morning Lilly went three times and Rose four. The first three times the girls both went exactly at the same time. EXACTLY. I asked the girls to sit and try the first three times and they both did, then Rose would get right back up and walk off. But before I knew it Lilly was going and I was praising and monitoring and when I looked back there was Rose peeing too, except on the floor.
I was like, "Wow! They are peeing exactly at the same time!! That's neat." Though Rose's mysterious disappearance was not so neat cause of her accidents.
It occurred to me finally that Rose may intentionally be peeing when Lilly was so I would be too distracted to hound Rose back to the potty before or during her release!
Now she is a two year old, recently turned 2 year old. Am I making an extreme assumption that my toddler is planning to go when her sister does to escape the potty??? Yes. Yes I am.

My parents came by in the afternoon to keep me company. The only problem is that Rose goes into baby mode around my mom, she acts like a different child all together. So when my mom became present she screamed and cried if I told her to go to the potty if she had the urge. She also refused to sit on it again. My mom tried to sit her on it and Rose looked like a cat over a sink of water, claws out ready for battle.
Finally in the evening after my rents left, she went, ooooh, maybe 6 or 7 times, and did the deed in her potty twice. It was a glorious two times. But the other times... it's like she doesn't even care anymore.
She pees- I clean, even having her clean is fun to her so it's no punishment. She doesn't mind the wet, the gross, the yuck. No matter how I express my distaste for her doing this she doesn't seem phased. The only time she seemed really bothered was when I let her try underwear on and she wet it. That feeling really got to her. It was stuck on her.

So we are moving to training pants/underwear. Daniel ran out and got them for her and a few waterproof covers and we're hoping that does it for her. It will hopefully eliminate the majority of cleaning and she have that uncomfortableness she so loathes. 

But what was good about today???
Lilly making her mama oh so happy.
Rose did go at least 3 times to the potty. It was still more than day one.

I work tomorrow. I was really hopeful that Rose would be farther along but at least Lilly has it down. They go off with my mom tomorrow and hopefully she keeps moving forward and not fall back like she did when she saw her today.

I gave in and let them have a treat from the poop bag, thought neither have actually done it on their own in the potty. But they look so cute and happy with their prizes!!

Here is Day 1 and Day 2

Potty Trianing, Day 2

Day 2:

It was a little rough because I couldn't continue right where I left off the night before in the morning because we had church. So the girls were diapered up and we went to church and then to Target. We did pick out some toys for a poop bag. You know what I mean, they poop and they get a prize from the poop bag. Not as gross as it seems. (Neither have achieves a poop prize yet)

When we did get home we quickly undressed them and set them up for another day in their playroom,
Rose didn't pee a million times on the floor in the morning, Lilly did insist on sitting on her chair. Rose happily sat on her chair without complaint and they both ate their lunch sitting on their potty. Their choice.

It wasn't a long morning and Lilly did her thing fine and Rose we were determined to have pee at least once before she went to bed for her nap. After all she guzzled a gallon of juice she HAD to go and again the strength of her little bottom surprised me as she was holding every drop inside her so she wouldn't have to let it out on the potty.

25 minutes past their nap time Rose finally gave in and she got a mini party and I threw my own cause I was ready for a nap myself!

The evening was a surprise!
Rose went to her potty, she was patient, and she tried. Lilly had an accident which again made her afraid to leave her chair.  I got the most frustrated when we were making dinner and I offered the girls to help make a homemade pizza and Lilly LOVES to help me in the kitchen but because she was restrained her to potty because she was afraid to have an accident she cried and cried and cried some more. And after about 10 minutes of crying and saying 'pee pee! pee pee!' I was certain she had to go and I waited but those 10 minutes made me feel like I was going to go insane. I took a moment to step outside and take a breather, gain some sanity back and then went back in to try again.
I think I waited a half hour before just deciding to make the pizza myself.
I felt guilty. But she wouldn't leave her chair! I thought she had to go numero dos but it turned out it was just fear holding her there.

But during that time Rose played in the kitchen and went on her own to the potty and sat and did her business 3 times! What a turn around from yesterday! Was it a miracle?! It wasn't because she peed twice on the floor after... but I was happy nonetheless!

Since both girls were happily seated on their chairs we brought their table and let them eat dinner on their potties.

 

Talk about luxury...

I gave underwear a try today, hoping it would help Lilly leave the potty and also let them learn to pull their clothes up and down. It unfortunately gave a sense of security and they both had accidents. So instead it worried me. But it had only been a day and a half. It did at least help Lilly get up and play a bit.

I was able to convince Lilly to play away from her chair and Rose had no troubles with that. Rose had her accidents at the end of the night which burst my bubble of hope. But I reminded myself that some steps are taken backwards and then forward again. 

I said, "If you have to pee, go to the potty." soooo many times today and yesterday I kept mixing my words up by this evening calling out, "If you have to potty, go to the pee!" 

Lilly stayed an average of B because of her mishaps of accidents and not leaving her chair.

Rose went to a B for her going on her own and really learning quickly!

Now if I was to suggest to another mama of twins about potty training her kids, whether or not to do them one at a time or both at the same time.... I'm still figuring that out for myself. With Daniel here it makes it that we each have one girl to watch and teach while crisscrossing to the other here and there. I'd say just get it all done at one time instead of spreading it out and separating them. 

But tomorrow when I'm allllll alone trying this by myself... I may say different.

Wish me luck as I go to Day 3... alone...

Potty Training Day 1

Disaster, terrible, wreck, and why?! Are the words that come to mind for day one.

Let me start with Lilly.
Lilly is a champ. She first tried and went to the potty on her own months and months ago, I can't remember when exactly but it made me proud.
Day one for Lilly was not that different to her except I had her waist down naked. She didn't mind it and she peed in the potty on her own. She got her treats and praises and she was happy.... until.... she accidently peed on herself. Just a little and she made it to the potty for the rest. But that did it. She was so afraid it would happen again that she refused to get off the potty. UGH!
It made it easy on my part but I wanted her to understand life goes on and we pee when we need to. But for Lilly, overall for the day, gets a B.

Now Rose. My Rose. My sweet tempered, chillaxe Rose, was not happy. She threw tantrums I've never seen her throw. She peed so many times I couldn't keep count. My only guess was around 15 times in the morning and more than that in the evening. And not one time of those in the potty. I was so frustrated. I felt like I was wasting a perfectly wonderful and warm day in the middle of winter to just clean pee. Which really Daniel was the main cleaner for Rose. We both were so frustrated.
I can't count how many times I have said, "If you need to pee, go to the potty."
That child refused to sit on that potty. When we told her if she needed to go she needed to sit on the potty she threw her arms around and jumped in anger. She was so mad and afraid. When she peed on herself she would scream like acid was piercing her skin. She hated the feeling, she hated being messy and wet.
I take back that she never used the potty. She did at the very end of the night, only because Daniel and I forced her to sit on the potty. Daniel figured out how often she was going and it was about every 7-8 minutes. She sat on her potty for about 30 minutes after the 7 to make sure she got it. She cried and I babied her with words, sweets and stickers. Rose finally went and she had the oddest expression on her face, because it was odd to pee in her potty.
Her overall grade was a C-

I was happy that she at least became comfortable with her seat and was sitting on it on her own. She also learned to hold in her pee for long periods of time because she didn't want to go in her potty which slightly impressed me. The peeing on the floor when she finally was released from the potty did not.

My technique is my own. I used a few friends ways, some things I read online and made my own way based on what I thought would work best for my children.

I had them undressed from the waist down.
I had a jar full of, marshmallows, chocolate marshmallows, m&ms, chunky chocolate chips, and recesses, so they had their choices for a treat and could see their candy all day to remind them if they want candy they need to do the deed.
I blocked them off from anywhere in the house to just their playroom, which is tiled floors so it would be easier clean up.
I gave them plenty of toys to occupy them in there.
I decided on no tv as it distracts them too much and they pee without realizing it until it's too late.

I did try this woman's way I read on a pinterest post to use a doll and a dropper to make it look like the doll peed to help them understand the concept. It was one of those Nailed It/Fail moments when after the girls were SO impressed with their dolls going potty they searched for all the dolls they could find to have them try to go potty too. I was loaded with dolls and I decided this angle was not for my girls.

It's hard to keep a constant eye on them, but after the morning the evening felt less terrible.

I find it hard with two mainly because I bribed Rose to just sit on her potty and Lilly wouldn't leave her potty. So when Rose got her bribe, Lilly would have this grief stricken & confused face as to why she didn't get something too. I would end up giving her some candy too because it felt unfair, I would say, "You can have a treat for sitting on your potty." and Lilly would reach out for a treat thinking I was talking to her too and she was sitting on her potty so I would give her one.

The bribe thing is hard with two but it also showed them examples of rewards when they were not being the one rewarded as well as understand that they have to fulfill a goal in order to achieve a reward. But again because of their age, it's a little hard to compute and all they see if their sister getting a reward.

On the other hand. The one getting praise and rewarded- I feel I couldn't give them enough praise and truly feel their reward cause I was trying to back the other one off and had to stop and explain to them why they aren't getting something.
It was almost chaotic trying to say,
"YAY! Good job!"
"No you have to potty first."
"You get a treat!!"
"You'll get a treat when you potty."
"Here pick a candy."
"If you pee I'll let you have a candy."
"I'm so proud of..."
"No, you have to potty first, sister pottied so she gets a reward."
And my chance to really throw a party is over.

I was just happy the day was over but sad because I didn't think the girls were so far behind. I thought Rose had a general good idea of the whole potty deal because she's seen Lilly go. But her refusal and stubbornness surprised me.

Day one was rough, but I am writing this blog in the evening of Day 2 and it does get better.

On to writing Day 2 post!!