How I Potty Trained BOTH my Toddlers at Once in 4 Days

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I was really nervous to start potty training my boys (Brett, 2, Canon, 3). I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about it. I wasn’t sure if they were ready or if the rest of my family was ready to share the bathroom. But I felt like it was one of my goals for the summer and the school year was about to begin so it was now or never. 

I decided I would do the 3 day express route. Basically, with this approach to potty training its just like creating a mild obsession for your toddler. Below I will detail our experience with this approach and how it all worked out each day.

Day One:

I started the day by setting underwear in my bathroom in case they had an accident i had underwear prepared already. Undies are a mandatory part of the Potty Training Survival Kit. These are our favorites that we got from Walmart. As soon as they woke up I took them to the potty. Canon (3) didn’t know what I expected from him and this weird seat with the middle missing. He was so confused that the first few times that I put him there he didn’t pee until I took him off. That pretty much sums up his whole first day. 

After they sat on the potty for a little bit I took them off and replaced the diaper with a fresh pair of big boy undies. I praised them at every step of the way. I gave a high five for sitting on the toilet. I gave encouraging words if they stayed seated. And the whole family clapped and cheered if they went on the potty. 

I purposely chose not to give them rewards for using the potty because I don’t want them to think that doing the right thing always has a reward. It’s important to me that they do the right thing because they know it’s the right thing. And I feel like encouraging words and celebration with your loved ones is a great reward in itself. However, if you want to give an extra incentive to those that are not easily swayed you can go to this post I wrote about Potty Training Rewards That Work. 

So anyway, here’s the obsessive part… On day one we went to the potty every 20 minutes. There were some exceptions like when they were asleep (which is when they wore diapers) and meal times.

When the timer I set on my phone went off I took Brett (2) first because he caught on quickly. As I was getting Canon on the potty I reset the timer for another 20 minutes. 

Can I just be real? 

It was so hard to stick to that timer. Sometimes I felt like it was just too much. And honestly it really is hella tiring. And before you start potty training you think that it’s going to give you less things to do since you don’t have to change diapers any more. 

Psych! Dead wrong. It gave me more things to do. Now I not only have to take them to the restroom I also have to watch them because they get into things from the toilet. So I’m standing there with them the whole time. And I still have to deal with the diapers. 

But once I started I wasn’t going to stop and I wanted us to get through this. I wanted to get to the other side of this goal. And I kept telling myself “Everybody learns this. They will catch on soon”. 

Day Two:

And caught on they did. So on this second day I set the time for every 30 minutes. It was like the tables turned on the two boys because yesterday Brett (2) was killing it and Canon was struggling, having accident after accident. 

BTW: When they do have an accident (and it will happen often) it’s so important that you do not scold them but keep teaching them instead. This is not called training for no reason. They have these new muscles that they never knew existed and now they have to learn how to work them. It’s like walking all over again. 

Anywho, on this second day Canon was killing it. He was waiting for the time to potty. He had no accidents and even went number two. My little Brett on the other was having trouble holding it for the whole 30 minutes. 

Every time we had an accident I would take that guy to sit on the potty. I knew he didn’t have to potty again but as he was sitting there I would keep telling him in a nice even tone “We pee pee on the potty”. And when we were done on the potty I would have him help me wipe up the accident. They wouldn’t always help me but I wouldn’t force it. It just shows them that this was a mistake and we can clean it up. 

As parents sometimes we give our kids long lectures and punishments when they make mistakes. That either creates an anxious child or a sneaky child. Sometimes punishment and lectures are necessary but in this case these toddlers need love and support.  

Day Three:

Even though Brett had a rough day two he recovered very well for day three. Each boy had one accident but the crazy part is that I set the timer for one hour in between for the first part of the day. But I soon realized I didn’t need the timer because they were asking to go to the potty. Sometimes they just wanted to be in the bathroom but besides those two accidents they were potty trained.

Day Four:

Day four was the ultimate test. We were going to leave the house. We decided that Canon (3) was going to be the first crash dummy for the no diaper trip to the store. 

Before we left I made sure he went to the potty. I asked him very often in the store if he needed to go to the potty and he told me no. It was a short trip about an hour and when we made it home I took him straight to the potty. He actually went on the potty! I was so proud and we all gathered around the door and clapped and cheered for him. 

It’s been about 3 weeks and we have had a few accidents here and there. Canon is going to school in the mornings so I put a diaper on him but when he gets home a couple hours later his diaper is dry. I take him straight to the bathroom and he goes. We will be potty training him for night time soon. I’m still doing some research on the best ways to potty train at night. 

Brett now leaves on short trips without a diaper. I don’t think he’s ready to potty train at night yet. Sometimes he has accidents while waiting for someone else to get out of the restroom. It’s like when someone else goes in there all of a sudden he remembers that he has to go and now it’s too late. But he enjoys being in the bathroom the most out of the two boys. Canon only goes in there when he knows he needs to. 

You can go to this article that I have to find out the 6 signs that your toddler is ready to be potty trained if you aren’t sure about your own toddler’s readiness. 

I hope you got some good information from my experience of potty training both my toddlers in 4 days. 

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