I have waited several weeks to write this post because I didn't want to jinx anything. Because sometimes that is what happens when one writes about their successes, or in this case, the successes of their children. And, yes: A poop in the potty is a success. After 10+ years of changing diapers/pull-ups, this is a major success. This is a milestone. The LAST of the baby milestones, really.
It's over, you guys. It's all over.
No more babies. No more diaper bags. No more bottles. Or strollers. Or diaper changes in the back of the van … which, come to think of it, actually makes me feel a little sad.
I don't have babies anymore. Bo and Revi turn four in two weeks. They dress themselves and use the bathrooms themselves. They write their names and draw portraits of each other with extremely long eyelashes.
Anyway. In case the first paragraph wasn't hint enough, the girls are out of diapers and fully potty-trained like whoa. And whoa it has been.
Back in March I wrote about the struggle being real. The whole pee-on-potty thing was easy and painless but the poop? Very complicated.
Twins are a case study in teamwork and willpower; earlier this year, I was but a supervillian on a failed mission to tear apart their toilet resistance.
They won, of course. I wasn't about to fight for their right to potty. THEY were the ones who should be fighting for their own right to potty, you know?
So I did what I had to do. I stepped aside. I threw my hands up in the air, told them to carry on.
RELATED: 10 Reasons to Stop Stressing About Potty Training
A month later, Bo decided it was her time. She broke up the Poop in a Diaper Behind the Door Band and became a diaper-free soloist.
I rejoiced that day.
"Oh … OH! " I sang. "We're halfway there!"
Bo went back and forth for a few weeks, but within the month, she was done with diapers for good, waking up dry even at night and sleeping in underwear. (She's back in nighttime pull-ups now, because accidents were being had and I was very much over the whole "washing sheets at 3 a.m." thing.)
Revi, on the other hand, I was afraid might never join the Potty Club. I was hoping she would be done with diapers by the time we hit up Pond Island because, well… diapers on an island with no outdoor garbage (bear alert!) was not ideal.
Ah, but nope. She was not ready then. Not yet.
It wasn't until the week after we returned from vacation that Revi, out of the blue, turned to me and said, "GUESS WHAT, MAMA!? I AM GOING TO POOP ON THE POTTY TODAY."
And then? She stood up, walked to the bathroom and did exactly that.
Four weeks later, here we are. No accidents. No problem.
Revi—much like her twin sister before her and her older sister before her and her big brother before her—was ready when SHE was ready. And that was that. Amen.
That's the thing about letting a child decide when it's time. They don't look back. It makes perfect sense if you think about it. It is far easier for a person to commit to something they have decided to do on their own than it is to commit to something they have been TOLD to do.
(If someone tells me to do something, I want to do the opposite just to spite them. So I totally get it. I don't want to be trained either. Does anyone really?)
RELATED: My Toddler Potty-Trained Himself
I've received a lot of advice throughout the years, most of which has been unsolicited (womp), and I just want to take a moment to say, regardless of whether we're talking about pooping, eating solid foods, sleeping through the night, etc.:
Eventually, they will get there—and so will you.
One of the great things about having many children is that you realize that every child is different. Allowing a child to be his or her own change-agent is empowering stuff. In the end, contrary to what the other parents may be telling you, there really is no rush.
She will get there eventually. He will figure it out on his own. And you? Well, you may even feel a twinge of sadness when e'er you pass the diaper aisle.
Funny how that works.
