Pools and Potties

I realize to my kids that pools and potties are one of the same, but despite that, they are two things of top priority as far as twins and triathlons are concerned.

The twins have shown about as much excitement towards potty training as I have towards swimming.  But, it's to the point where we no longer have choices, it's time to press forward.

We have dabbled with potty training in the past.
At first, the little potties were a novelty.  They sat on them.

After about a 5 minutes, the potties were forgotten.  They were moved into a corner and collected a disturbing amount of dust.

I re-introduced potty training again as we came closer to the third birthday.  Everyone kept saying that they were old enough to understand. 

We tried pull-ups.  The first thing Brenna did was pull hers down - she definitely understood that part.

Like the potties, there was a short-lived initial novelty.  They laid on the floor as if they were testing them.

A few minutes later it was determined that a pull-up was just another kind of diaper and they had no interest.

A few more months passed and I encouraged them with a rewards chart.

Brenna made some attempts:

Hayden has taken a more lackluster approach, as evidenced by his chart.

I totally get it, there are much better things to do than sit on a toilet - like play with cars, trains and dinosaurs.

I have always had better things to do than swim - like bike, run and run more.

But even though Hayden will vehemently disagree with me, its time for us to both to just suck it up and do it.

I started first by examining my barely-existent swimming schedule.

I decided to ease into this whole swimming thing by swimming 3 days a week.

Then I added a Masters class for a 4th day.

And then I added a 5th day although this is hard, since you know, I do have a job and stuff.

I have seen some results.  My 100s have gone down from 2 minutes to 1:37-1:42.  But, I cannot swim 15 at that pace without stopping.  This has made me realize that I have a long, long road ahead of me.

I am hoping the potty-training takes a much shorter (and drier) road.

We are using a technique called Three Day Potty Training. 

I will report back but I want to ensure you that I will not:  

  1. Post pictures of poop.

  2. Post pictures of pee.

  3. Provide any description of poop or pee.

I bought each child 30 pairs of underwear and we are beginning this process tomorrow morning.  

After I go to the pool.