Ideas for keeping baby out of toilet when potty training the older 2?

I feel like the worst mom ever right now. My son is SO ready to potty train. The twins are 29 months. My daughter is interested but my son REALLY wants to do it. I keep putting it off because my littlest one (who just turned 1) is into EVERYTHING and wants to play in the toilet. I end up losing my patience and yelling and feeling horrible. I got the 3 Day Potty Training e-book and I'm almost done reading it. I have been trying to decide on a date to do it. My husband gets back from TDY next Saturday and will be gone all of June and most of July so I'm thinking I'd like to do it the weekend of the 23rd - which I know is Easter weekend but I'm hoping beyond hope that maybe they'll have a 3 or 4 day weekend from that and he'll be able to help me. Right now everyone is sick and crabby so now is REALLY not a good time to start. I'm just trying to start all these "new" things tomorrow in hopes of getting my house under control. It's chaos here especially with hubby gone. Everyone is fighting, I'm yelling way too much, I broke down and cried the other day and said I just can't handle this. How did I think I could handle 3 little kids and how on earth did I EVER think I could handle Army life with 3 little kids. I just can't do it. I ended up emailing my friend with triplets (who are now 6) and she made me feel better and gave me some great ideas so I'm trying to put all that into action. I bought a timer that should be here today so we can really do the 1-2-3 Magic Time-Outs and also use it for taking turns with toys (they fight over things A LOT). I was all excited about starting all this new stuff and decided to make a bedtime "storyboard" to try and get a new bedtime routine to include going potty twice before bed. Well the kids saw it this morning and my DS of course wanted to go in and try to go potty. I gave in, he sat on the big potty (with the insert) and went pee. So proud of him. He LOVES going pee in the potty (never gone poop yet). Then DD wanted to go and she pushed and pushed and said she went but I couldn't tell because DS was flushing the toilet and little DS was trying to climb in the bath tub. Then DS wanted to go pee AGAIN. I get that he loves it but good Lord I can't do this ALL day right now. We're all sick. The baby started throwing a tantrum because I shut the bathroom door. I ended up yelling (which I'm trying to stop). DS started crying because I told him he couldn't go potty. I feel like the worst mom ever. Here this poor kid just wants to go potty and I can't handle everything that goes along with that. I need some suggestions on how to handle this all while potty training - or pottying in general. I mean what do I do when they are potty trained? I can't leave the bathroom door open because the little DS wants to play in the toilet all the time but the twins don't know how to open the door. I probably make things way more difficult than they should be but I just can't see past the chaos. Thanks for listening and any advice you can give me!

 

:hug: :youcandoit: You are amazing doing all of this with no help! :woman:

I went through exactly the same thing with my dd that you are with your son. She was ready to potty train at the same age yours are now but "I" wasn't ready. I made her wait until a month before she turned 3y. It didn't backfire on me (like so many people told me it would) and she was by far the easiset thing to potty train! And since I waited my ds was also ready and it went really fast.
My youngest is 13 months younger then the twins and I had the same problem with him in the bathroom. So I have a drawer that is his and anytime he goes to play in the toilet I redirect him to his spot. It does help but when you're spending half the day in the bathroom, by the end, nothing seems to work.
I can say that for the first 2 weeks it felt like we lived near the bathroom. When you have one potty training you only have to go every hour or so but when you have two it's twice an hour :faint: But it does pass! Mine have been potty trained for well over 3 months and it's really nice.
If you're ready then go for it, but if you're not then don't worry about it! In my personal experience it goes much faster the closer to 3 they are. I'm not saying it can't be done earlier but it does seem to be a longer process. I know for us with having a little one, it just wasn't an option to potty train for a month or more. Plus we get out a lot just the 3 of us and taking one to go potty while out with the other two running around the bathroom, is not fun.
Good luck and you are such a trooper for doing all of this! I hope you guys are feeling better soon! If you ever need to talk, feel free to pm me

 

Maybe put some toys in the bathtub and just put Ryder in the tub while W and J are trying to potty if you are in there with them? I never did any organized potty training with any of my kids I never took them every hour or tried to do it in any set time. While we were home I put underwear on them and let them go I did ask every now and then if they needed to go but it wasn't scheduled or anything. If I had a baby in the house at the same time i would block the bathroom with a baby gate and the potty trainer would scream I need to potty which they always loved to announce anyway!!

 

Thank you so much ladies! Great ideas! I think I may just have to get another gate. My husband will love me. LOL BUT I can probably find a cheap one just for that purpose. I like the drawer idea and also the bathtub idea. LOL He'd probably have a blast with both. I love ideas from other people. Things that I just can't think of when I'm in the middle of a meltdown. Brigette - thank you! I will remember to PM you It really helps to have people in the same shoes so to speak who have been there done that. My friend with triplets is awesome because she totally gets how overwhelming 3 kids around the same age are but at the same time having a baby with 2 not so much older twins throws it's own set of "kinks" into things. LOL Thanks again!

 

^ I totally get this!!!!!

Anyways, the boys have been potty trained for about a month now and I know Hannah is younger than Ryder but really I just put the pottys in the bathroom close to the living room (where we spend most of our time) and Hannah just played with toys and if she came crawling over I just picked her up. The first couple weeks of potty training were sooooo frustrating and I was yelling ( :blush: ) a lot, which I don't like to admit to but its a fact of life with kids I think. I was just about ready to give up and thats when it clicked for them. I also didn't do any type of "timed" training. We just did underwear and the constant nagging asking them if they had to go. Eventually they started saying they had to go, so we stopped asking...except if it seems like a really long time but its amazing how long they can hold it!!

I wish I lived closer...we could be such a great support to one another! Til then, you know where to find me

 

Thanks Kim I just saw this. I totally wish we lived closer. I am going to try potty training this weekend. I think. LOL What you did sounds a lot like what 3 Day Potty Training says to do and I think it's a good plan. I got a gate for the bathroom so we're going to give that one a shot. Ryder is SO fast and just gets into everything! LOL

 

Probably to late here but I'd just keep the toilet clean. When my son was doing this (18 months younger than my girls) I just gave up and figured he was going to play around the toilet, so I just kept it as clean as I could. Bathtub playing I never worry about so long as they are occupied and safe (I would consider the bathtub safe so long as there's no water in it)

Also, try putting a training potty out in the living room maybe? Then the older ones can go when they need to, you can keep the bathroom door shut if you want , and you can just empty out the potty when you see it's got soemthing in it.

I totally feel the 3 kids and crazy meltdowns. My DH is deployed right now, and we're still trying to potty train our youngest. He doesn't want to poop in the potty. The other morning he needed to go, so I sat him on the potty. of course he started screaming so I sat and held him for awhile, explained that the poop needed to go in there, etc.. Still refused. Offered M&M's, donuts, nothing. Finally I HAD to get ready for work, and I told him to put underwear on and let me know if he needed to poop. I made a big deal out of not pooping in Diego, etc... Low and behold, 5 minutes later he came in stinking up a storm. He was so messy, I ended up putting him in the shower. Poor little guy was screaming his head off, and I just kept yelling at him, "Well maybe you should've pooped in the potty like I told you to. Then you wouldn't have to be in the shower." I threatened him that every time he went in his underwear I was going to make him take a shower (he HATES the shower)... Needless to say, it was a very stressful morning and I turned into a serious green-eyed monster to my child. I did everything I swore I'd NEVER do (including cussing at him) and just completely lost my cool.

I've been finding myself yelling a lot since DH has been gone. To the point that I'm thinking of asking for medication to mellow me out - which is unusual for me becuase I'm usually very mellow and calm especially with my children, ESPECIALLY with my children.....

I feel for you, I feel your pain with you, I'm right there with you right now. If you want to talk, feel free - I know we both don't have a lot of free time but it would be good to talk to someone that's going through the same situation..

*hugs*