Make that girls. And they don't actually cry, "Potty"; They cry "I'm
makin' pee-pee now!" and "I'm makin' poo-poo now!" And (what a suprise)
they do this most frequently at bedtime, typically right after I've put
new diapers on them and changed them into their PJ's, or -- more
nefariously -- right as I'm kissing them goodnight. Suddenly, they
desperately need to sit on the potty or have their diaper changed
again. And the law of twin physics applies here: if one of them wants
something, the other one wants it too. So if I give in to one child's
demands, I'd better be damned ready to do it in duplicate.
This
is obviously a stalling technique, right? But the question of how to
respond still stymies me. In the interest of potty training, we've been
encouraging them to tell us when they need to go / are going / have
gone, and I feel like ignoring their pleas just because it's bedtime
sends the wrong message. Even if I suspect they don't really mean it.
So, I usually give them a chance to sit on the potty, or I check their
diaper to see if it's actually wet. (It almost never is, and they
pretty much never actually do anything on the potty, except point out
various things in the bathroom and ask for toilet paper.)
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