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“Daddy, what is this?” Chan asked as he entered the living room.
Seungcheol waited until both littles were able to take in the sight of the newest addition to their living room. Wonwoo looked back at him confused, and that was when Seungcheol smiled.
“It’s a potty.”
Chan’s eyebrows furrowed, his little three year old brain unable to comprehend the fact that there was a potty in their living room. “Huh?”
Seungcheol chuckled. “It’s just like the big potty in the bathroom, only this one is for boys who are too little to make it all the way down the hallway.”
“Diaper,” Wonwoo finally piped up, looking down at the slight bulge in his pants.
“My smart boy,” Seungcheol complimented him. “Daddy is going to be potty training you two! No more diapers.”
Neither of them seemed very pleased with that information. Wonwoo especially – the poor boy seemed like he was close to tears.
“Why?” Chan asked.
“Because I’m only one person. You, my little otter, need a lot of diaper changes, and so does your little brother. We’re gonna put you both in undies and then you boys can use the potty without daddy needing to run you to the bathroom every five minutes for the toilet.”
The more Seungcheol explained, the more eager Chan seemed. He was rocking up on his tip toes, eagerly asking if he could put a pair of underwear on right now.
Wonwoo on the other hand… he seemed a bit more hesitant. Seungcheol knew that he would take a bit longer to settle into a new routine, but that was okay. He wasn’t terribly worried about actually toilet training them, it would just make things easier if he wasn’t running off to the bedroom every twenty minutes to change one of them. Particularly Wonwoo – he was a very sensitive boy, and no matter what Seungcheol did to try and prevent it, his skin just seemed to love rashing up. And Chan was always needing his attention, making it rather difficult to find the time to change Wonwoo.
The first day of undies was nothing short of a disaster. Chan and Wonwoo had both been in diapers constantly for months at that point, so for Seungcheol to remove that meant that there were quite a few accidents. Which he anticipated, and he accepted each one with gentle words and even gentler hands to clean them up and guide them back to the potty to finish.
Or rather, guide Chan back to the potty to finish.
Chan wasn’t the one he was worried about though. Seungcheol knew that he was going to be the easy one. Maybe not the easiest to potty train, but at least he was eager to try. Wonwoo wanted nothing to do with the underwear, and even less to do with the potty.
“Wan’ diaper,” he said when they woke up the next morning and Seungcheol presented him with a pair of underwear.
“Don’t you want to be a big boy like Channie?” Seungcheol asked, really hoping that Wonwoo would take the bait. If there was one thing that could overcome Wonwoo’s stubbornness, it was his desire to be just like Chan.
“Look, Nu! I got undies like a big boy!”
Wonwoo hesitated, but he did always want to be just like Chan. And usually Chan hated it, begging Seungcheol to help him make Wonwoo stop copying him. But this time they were encouraging it, and Wonwoo wasn’t just going to pass up this opportunity.
“Un’ies,” he said, pointing to the blue pair in Seungcheol’s hand.
“Good boy.”
Seungcheol mentally cheered as he slid the underwear up Wonwoo’s legs, popping a pacifier in his mouth and handing him his most special kitten stuffie to try and lessen the inevitable meltdown that is to follow, either from not having a diaper in general or the accident that is bound to happen from not having one.
He settled the boys in the living room with cartoons on the television while he went to prepare breakfast. There were many times where Seungcheol was thankful he went with an open concept floorplan, allowing him to see the boys from the kitchen while they were in the living room, but he had never been this grateful before. He knew all of the signs they would both show when they had to go potty, it was just a matter of catching them and directing them to the potty in time.
Chan was the first to need to go, as expected. Seungcheol was grateful Chan’s skin wasn’t nearly as sensitive as Wonwoo’s, or else he would have been forced to start potty training a long time ago. His wallet could handle a lot, but not Chan’s tiny bladder if he couldn’t wait at least three wettings between changes.
“Daddy, potty!” he shouted, even though Seungcheol had already seen him pause his playing and knew exactly what was coming.
Seungcheol immediately set down the knife he was using to cut up some strawberries to help Chan use the potty the first time, even though he didn’t really need it. The boy was pulling down his undies (they were going to be pantsless the first few days, Seungcheol did not need to do that much laundry) and sitting on the potty before his daddy had even stepped into the living room.
“What a good boy!” Seungcheol told him as soon as he heard the sound of pee hitting plastic.
“Pee!” Chan giggled happily.
Seungcheol thought that the first potty trip was going to be successful until Chan spread his legs, trying to watch himself pee into the potty. He shifted just enough that his stream was no longer flowing into the potty, but onto the waterproof mat that Seungcheol had cleverly placed underneath the potty for situations just like that.
“Chan, sweetie, keep your legs closed. I know it's fun to watch, but it makes a mess that Daddy needs to clean up. You don’t want a bigger mess for Daddy, do you?” Seungcheol asked, hoping that he would pick the answer that made his life much easier. He considered himself to be a pretty good caregiver, but there were certain things that he just couldn’t control, especially when Chan put his mind to something and didn’t want to take no for an answer.
When Chan finished, he turned to his much better behaved baby. “Wonwoo, sweetheart, do you have to go potty?”
Wonwoo was quick to shake his head; almost too quick, but Seungcheol decided to leave it. He took the potty to the bathroom to dispose of Chan’s pee and give the basin a quick clean before he wiped up the little spill and put it back together.
Seungcheol was able to finish breakfast without any other bathroom related interruptions. He knew better than to sit them down without asking first, so after setting the table, he said, “Do either of you have to potty before we eat?”
Chan happily declined while Wonwoo just stared at Seungcheol with wide eyes.
“Baby, do you have to go potty?”
Wonwoo shook his head, but Seungcheol wasn’t so sure.
“Why don’t we try, sweetheart.”
It wasn’t a question, or even a suggestion. Seungcheol knew his boys like the back of his hand. They weren’t very good at holding it anymore, which meant that they were very used to just going whenever they felt the slightest urge.
Wonwoo did take it as a suggestion though, and he shook his head again. He seemed rather determined to avoid the potty, which only mildly concerned Seungcheol. Wonwoo was always rather nervous about new things, especially when he was little. He had hope that his boy would warm up to it soon.
Instead of fussing too much yet, Seungcheol decided to feed them first. Breakfast always tended to perk Wonwoo up a bit.
He served them pancakes and fruit, with chocolate chips as a little sweet treat. As much as Seungcheol was a stickler for a balanced, nutrition filled diet, he also knew that today was going to be a bit difficult for the both of them, even though Chan was eager. He was the reason Seungcheol even introduced the two of them to diapers in the first place, as he had begun having accidents out of the blue. Not big ones, just a leak here and there, but the leaks were big enough to show on his pants, and Seungcheol was not a fan of the amount of laundry he was doing every day. He could let his boys have chocolate chips with their breakfast as a sort of apology for the stress of what he caused.
Once their faces were smeared with chocolate and fingers sticky with syrup, Seungcheol hurried off to wet two cloths. He ran the tap for a minute to warm the water up, and then soaked the clean cloths with the water. Unfortunately for him, the sound of dripping liquid did not stop when he turned off the tap.
It didn’t take more than a second for Seungcheol to figure out what it was, peeking up at the table his messy boys were still sitting at just in time to see Wonwoo shiver as he peed all over the chair.
He wasn’t entirely sure Wonwoo realized what he was doing, which Seungcheol was not exactly pleased about. It would make potty training him much more difficult if he had to reteach Wonwoo what it felt like to need to pee, and in the grand scheme of things might not even be worth it to take him out of diapers, but he certainly would try.
“Wonwoo, baby, did you have an accident?” Seungcheol asked, despite already knowing the answer.
“Pee,” he replied, much like Chan did when he peed earlier, just with much less enthusiasm.
“Yes, I see honey. Why didn’t you tell Daddy you had to go potty?”
“Don’ wanna.”
Seungcheol pursed his lips. He decided to leave it for now, choosing to clean Chan up before Wonwoo since his baby was going to take a bit more than just a quick wipe with a wet cloth.
“Make sure you go to the potty if you feel like you have to, okay Channie?” Seungcheol said sternly.
“Okay, Daddy!” Chan happily agreed before prancing off to resume playing with the toys he had before Seungcheol called them for breakfast.
Seungcheol decided to start with Wonwoo’s face and work his way down. Since he was so much younger than Chan, Seungcheol had Wonwoo strapped into a high chair to ensure that he wouldn’t lose his balance and fall out of one of the normal chairs if he had to turn his attention away for a moment. It had only happened once, and Seungcheol decided right then and there that he would never let it happen again.
But a high chair with straps meant that those straps were now soaked in pee, and the whole thing needed a deep clean. He was just thankful that he went with a plastic covering rather than a fabric one.
“Next time you feel like you have to go pee pee, you gotta tell Daddy, okay, baby?” Seungcheol said as he wiped down Wonwoo’s legs.
“Mm,” Wonwoo halfheartedly agreed, and Seungcheol had a feeling he didn’t really mean it.
With a sigh, he undid the straps holding Wonwoo in the chair and helped him down. There was still a puddle on the floor, but he would deal with that after he helped his baby change.
Seungcheol got Wonwoo all pee free and into a clean pair of underwear, rinsing the wet pair of underwear and throwing them in a basket to be washed at the end of the day. With an accident already so early in the morning, he anticipated plenty more to follow.
And Seungcheol was right. Chan was next, a tear inducing puddle on the rug in the living room. That was not on Seungcheol’s list of easily cleanable surfaces, but he could get the carpet cleaner out after they went to bed, no big deal.
After that, he didn’t have many things to do and he kept his eyes on them like a hawk. It proved to be a good idea when he noticed Wonwoo’s eyes go all spacy like they do when he’s about to pee.
“Wonwoo, come use the potty, sweetie.”
The boy just shook his head.
Seungcheol stood to grab his hand and lead him to the potty, just a few steps away, but he was disappointed to find a wet spot on the floor when he moved Wonwoo.
With a sigh he once again helped his boy clean up, wiping up his bottom and where the pee dripped down his legs, and then helping him into new underwear.
“Why don’t you want to use the potty?”
“Don’ wan’ it,” Wonwoo replied.
“How come? Daddy can’t make it better if you don’t tell him how to fix the potty.”
Wonwoo thought for a moment, and then he shrugged. “Wan’ diaper.”
“Today is an undies day, baby. We’ll still have diaper days, but Daddy wants you and Channie to be able to wear undies sometimes too. Do you think you can do that for me?”
Wonwoo sniffled, effectively breaking Seungcheol’s heart. He nodded though, and that was enough for Seungcheol.
“That’s Daddy’s good boy. Let’s go out and make sure Channie isn’t getting into a bunch of trouble.”
That drew a giggle out of Wonwoo. Chan wasn’t the biggest trouble maker. Really, the worst he’d get up to would be somehow spilling his juice. He was far more clumsy than he was troublesome.
Luckily there were no spills, and a quick scan around the room told Seungcheol that there weren’t any other puddles anywhere either.
Until…
“Daddy, potty!” Chan happily announced as soon as he noticed that Seungcheol and Wonwoo reentered the room.
Seungcheol knew that that could either mean he had a huge mess to clean up or that Chan used the potty with no issues at all.
“That’s my good little otter. Did you keep your legs closed like Daddy told you to?”
“Uh huh!” Chan said.
Seungcheol didn’t get his hopes up until after he settled Wonwoo on the couch with his kitten and could inspect the potty further. True to Chan’s word, there was not a single drop of pee outside of the potty.
“Good job!”
Seungcheol emptied the potty once more, hoping that the next time he had to do that it would be because Wonwoo went.
In between cleaning up puddles and emptying potties, Seungcheol managed to find time for lunch, the babies least favorite meal as they always knew what followed it.
“Daddy, how ‘bout no nap today?” Chan suggested, as he did most days.
“How ‘bout yes nap today,” Seungcheol replied with no room for argument in his voice. It did make Chan pout, but they both went along to their rooms with no argument. Seungcheol alternated who he put down first typically, and today was Wonwoo’s day.
“Daddy and Channie will be ready for you when you get up, sweet boy. I love you,” Seungcheol said as he kissed Wonwoo on his head and tucked him in.
“Night night, Nu!” Chan whisper-shouted, because Chan was barely capable of being quiet. Seungcheol had worked countless hours with him in order to teach the boy how to whisper. He was a loud whisperer, but Seungcheol had to count it as a win.
Chan was almost always the first one awake, which was why Seungcheol would promise Wonwoo that they’d see him when he woke up. Unless, of course, he decided that he didn’t want to go to sleep. It was rare, but Seungcheol was not a fan of these types of days. Chan always seemed to have a plethora of excuses lined up as to why he couldn’t nap quite yet
“Daddy, I need more water.”
“Daddy, my blanket is too itchy to sleep.”
And today’s newest addition,
“Daddy, I hafta go potty.”
Seungcheol sighed when that one came out, having a hunch that it would eventually, just not the first day they were trying out the new potty. He didn’t necessarily want to tell Chan that he didn’t need to go, just in case he actually did and wet the bed. Seungcheol was prepared to clean up puddles off of the floor, not wet sheets. The boys were always diapered for bed, so he hadn’t switched over to the protective sheets yet. He had intended to keep them in diapers at night for a bit longer, only switching if they actually took to potty training well.
He sighed and relented, taking Chan out into the living room. Contrary to what Seungcheol thought would happen, he did end up peeing. The tiniest pee in the world, but it was a pee nonetheless.
“Okay, Channie baby, nap time.”
Chan groaned, but he did at least let Seungcheol put him to bed. Seungcheol could hear on the baby monitor (he’s a paranoid daddy, sue him for wanting to make sure his babies are okay) that Chan didn’t fall asleep for a while, babbling to himself to keep himself awake.
As long as he wasn’t crying or being loud enough to wake Wonwoo, Seungcheol didn’t care what Chan was doing. He took the time that he had without the babies to clean up the kitchen from breakfast and lunch, taking the monitors from counter to counter as he went along.
Normally he’d be surprised to hear Wonwoo softly calling for him through the monitor, but Chan had only fallen asleep twenty minutes prior to Wonwoo waking, so he was expecting it.
“Hi, sweet boy,” he said softly as he entered Wonwoo’s room. The boy looked utterly adorable with his tousled hair and sleepy eyes. Seungcheol helped him with his glasses, patiently waiting for Wonwoo to rub the sleep out of them before placing them on the bridge of his nose.
“Do you need to go potty, baby?” Seungcheol asked, already knowing the answer.
Wonwoo seemed to take a moment to understand why Seungcheol was asking that question. It was a good thing he asked it when he did, because Wonwoo looked shocked when he remembered that he didn’t have a diaper on.
He still shook his head in response to Seungcheol’s question though, and that was not what Seungcheol was expecting after their conversation earlier.
“I think you might have to. Let’s go try, okay?”
He knew that Wonwoo wasn’t going to want to, but he didn’t expect the boy to whine. Wonwoo almost never whined, unless Chan was being particularly annoying, which was rare.
“Aw, grumpy boy. You’ll feel much better when you get all the pee out of you.”
He knew that Wonwoo would feel better afterwards, he just hoped that he’d get the pee in the potty.
“Daddyyy,” Wonwoo groaned as Seungcheol led him into the living room.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Seungcheol asked, anticipating the same answer.
“Don’ wanna.”
“Can you just sit on the potty for me?” Seungcheol tried. “You don’t have to pee, just slide your undies down and sit on it for Daddy.”
Wonwoo seemed hesitant, but he nodded slowly. Seungcheol tried his hardest not to seem too giddy as he helped Wonwoo, holding his hand to keep him steady as he lowered himself down. Since Wonwoo was physically much larger than Chan, he had a much more difficult time getting himself settled onto it. Seungcheol thought it was the cutest thing in the world, but he kept that to himself.
Wonwoo didn’t pee, in fact Seungcheol could see him fighting to hold it back, his face crinkling up out of sheer desperation.
“Wonwoo, baby boy,” Seungcheol said, waiting for Wonwoo to look at him before he continued. “Go potty.”
Wonwoo cried out and then shook his head, still refusing even though he had to go so bad.
Seungcheol knew that he was in pain. He also knew that what he planned to do was probably not the most ideal route for either of them, but all he saw was his baby hurting and he wanted that to stop. So without hesitating and giving Wonwoo a chance to push his hands away, Seungcheol pressed his palm flat against Wonwoo’s stomach and pushed down. His other arm circled around Wonwoo’s back, half to hold him still and half to give him a chance to slump into Seungcheol’s chest, which was exactly what he did after the shock of Seungcheol making him pee wore off.
“Meanie,” he heard Wonwoo mumble.
“I can handle being a meanie if it means you’re not hurting,” Seungcheol whispered into Wonwoo’s hair. “Was that so bad?”
Wonwoo nodded. “‘Barrassing.”
“Is that the only reason you didn’t want to use the potty?” Seungcheol asked, things starting to click in place. Wonwoo nodded again. “You could have told Daddy that you thought it was embarrassing. Channie and I can turn away, or go stand in the kitchen while you go.”
Wonwoo shook his head this time. “Is okay. Nu off potty?”
“Of course, honey.”
Seungcheol thought that that would be the end of their issues. That Wonwoo would tell him when he needed to go potty so that he could take Chan into the other room, but that was not the case. Days went by and Seungcheol would either be cleaning up a wet spot on the floor and changing Wonwoo out of a pair of soggy underwear, or he would find the potty filled up after dealing with something Chan needed, Wonwoo obviously only going when they both left the room. He talked with the boy about it every time, but Wonwoo was determined to try and convince Seungcheol that it wasn’t him, despite the both of them knowing that that wasn’t true.
He had no issues telling Seungcheol when Chan went to the potty though. While the boy had a handful of accidents in the beginning, Chan took rather well to the potty. Better than Seungcheol ever anticipated. He honestly believed that the two of them would be opposite, with Wonwoo making it to the potty more than he was and Chan having all of the accidents, since Chan’s accidents were what kickstarted the whole diaper movement in their household. Wonwoo very easily toddled up to Seungcheol to inform him of the status of the potty.
“Channie pee,” or “Channie ‘tinky,” or “Potty ‘ucky.”
Seungcheol would thank him and send him back, not before asking if he needed to use it though. Wonwoo would always shake his head, even when Seungcheol would find him sitting atop his own pee puddle not even five minutes later.
Wonwoo was getting tired of it, Seungcheol could tell. His legs and bottom were red and raw from all of the wiping, his eyes were spent from all the crying over not wanting to use the potty, and Seungcheol was considering just giving Wonwoo what he seemed to need.
It was day five of trying to potty train when he finally broke. Sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room, Wonwoo needed to pee. Bad. But Seungcheol and Chan were both sitting next to him, Seungcheol on the couch and Chan right in front of him. He did not want to use the potty in these conditions.
And then Chan got up, walked over to the potty, pulled his pants and undies down (because Chan had graduated to pants. Wonwoo wasn’t there yet), and plopped himself down on the potty. Now Wonwoo couldn’t even go if he wanted to, and that was terrifying to him.
Judging by the face Chan was making, he was going to be on the potty for a while, and Wonwoo was really nearing his limit. But Seungcheol had said his bum couldn’t handle much more wiping without it getting really irritated. Wonwoo’s bum already hurt! He definitely couldn’t handle a bigger rash.
“Daddy?” he questioned from the floor.
Seungcheol looked up from the book he was reading. “Yes, Nu?”
“Can I have a diaper?”
He used his biggest boy words, and he was sure that was what earned him the smile that stretched across Seungcheol’s face.
“Of course you can, baby.”
Seungcheol, of course, was smiling because that was all he wanted. For Wonwoo to ask. Seungcheol, to his core, loved his babies the most out of everything in the world, but to say he didn’t like to push them out of their comfort zone a bit would be a blatant lie. He loved it, actually, seeing them get all squirmy as he had them do something they didn’t exactly want to. It wasn’t because he enjoyed seeing them upset, but because he wanted them to figure out how to find a solution for themselves when it wasn’t terribly obvious. Chan and Wonwoo were three and one respectively, and Seungcheol enjoyed pushing them beyond their mental limit to see just how far they could go. Sometimes he’d go too far and need to reel it back in, but other times his boys could figure it out all on their own, even if it took them a bit to get there, and that was exactly what Wonwoo did.
Seungcheol retrieved a diaper and had Wonwoo scrambling to lay down, eager for his most favorite item to be back with him. Potty training sucked, and he quite frankly hoped that Seungcheol never made him wear undies again.
“Yeah, Nu needs diapers,” Chan piped up after a strained grunt. “He’s just a baby.”
“He is, isn’t he?” Seungcheol murmured fondly, looking at Wonwoo with all the stars in the universe in his eyes.
Wonwoo didn’t even wait until Seungcheol had the tapes done up, flooding his diaper the second the front was up far enough that it would catch all the pee. Seungcheol’s eyes widened when he realized just how quickly Wonwoo had peed, and then sighed.
“I didn’t even get this one on you and you’re already ready for a change.”
Wonwoo just giggled. He was just a baby after all.
“Daddy, can you wipe me?”
Seungcheol sighed again, one full of all the frustrations of a caregiver and the satisfaction with the life he led. “Of course, Channie. Let me change your brother first.”