Lohicimos! We did it, hooray! The trials and tribulations of toilet training

I think we finally did it! I hope it's not too soon to pat ourselves on the back, though. We have been toilet training Mikael for some time now but we really took off his diapers about two months ago, just before Mikael turned 3. We also have been trying to ween both the kids off sleeping in their diapers, and for the past three days, we have not been cleaning up any pee or poo, accidental or otherwise.

Training Mika is not as easy as Inez because you could tell when she wanted to poop and you could quickly carry her to the toilet. Then I told her how proud I was of her and I praised her for being so clever and I promised her THE INCREDIBLES underwear if she could do it every day; and she did. And she got 2 INCREDIBLES undies to show for it. If I'm not mistaken, it's RM10 per undie. Training her to tell people that she wanted to pee was harder. But we never had to wash or clean her accidental poo. And she liked to control to the very last minute.

Mika on the other hand, seemed to be very comfortable in his poo and wouldn't tell anyone that he's done it unless the stink lets the cat out of the bag. Then only, he'd be dragged to the toilet to be cleaned. Even when his diapers came off and he was only wearing his big boy underwear, he would treat it like his diaper and poop in it. One public holiday, we thought we could laze around all day. Hmmph, we spent half the day cleaning up after Mika who was worse than a cat. We had the wash the floor, wash the carpets, wash his underwear, and wash the boy himself. By the time we were done, it was already 3 p.m.! So much for the idea of lazing around.

When we first took off his diaper, we took him to the toilet every half hour. Sometimes he did and sometimes he didn't. Sometimes, he said he wanted to but his real intention was to play with water at the sink. Sometimes, we missed his pee time and he'd pee wherever he was: on his toy motorbike, in the drain, on the carpet, on the floor. We told him if he pee-ed everywhere again, he'd have to stay in the toilet. NOT a good idea, coz he LOVES playing with water. His one joy is playing with the spray and spraying water everywhere. One cannot put a toilet roll in the toilet without it getting wet, courtesy of Mikael.

With Mika, peeing in the toilet was easier but getting him to poop took longer time. (FYI, that was an understatement, but you know what I mean.) It was like he was afraid to poop in the toilet bowl. I tried to train him using the potty but he only used it to play with water. Whenever we took off his diaper, he would not poop the whole day. Sometimes, he would control for two whole days! Finally, we purposely wore him diapers so that he'd poop. Then when it seemed as if he was was about to do it, we quickly took him to the toilet. When he got used to using the toilet, we took off his diapers completely. Then I got him to poop standing up and that helped reduce his fears. I promised him a big fire truck if he could pee and poop every day in the toilet bowl. Now, every time he goes to the toilet voluntarily, he will ask if he can get a cement mixer truck. I told him it is very expensive and we need to save up for it. We actually do coz it costs nearly RM70. Crazy!

Anyway, since Inez is going to be 5, we decided to stop wearing her diapers. The first few days, there were some accidents but no more on Inez's part. Usually, Mika would give me a lot of work. The first week, 2 'no clean-up' days. Then, when I was about to celebrate, 5 days of clean-up in a row! Though I put 'protection' in the form of medical underpads and a plastic sheet underneath the bedsheet, I find that sometimes these move or the children move. Then, we got to know of the existance of DISPOSABLE TABLECLOTHS which costs RM5.60 for 10 sheets. It's very soft like a plastic bag and 1 piece covers 7/8th of a queen sized mattress! I use 2 sheets.

I hope this lasts! I will keep you guys updated if it doesn't.