Day 4..... was a dance.

3 misses for the day. Not quite one step forward and two steps back... just kind of an awkward circle.

One was during our trip to Target. I knew I should have taken him to the potty there, but I was kind of testing his "holding" skills. I learned to never second guess my gut.

The second one was his big morning poopy. Something about the weekend and Eric being home, kind of made me lazy with my timing. Again, I was also kind of playing with the holding part, and seeing if he is getting any of this on his own. I caught him mid-action and said, "no, no, no- poopy goes in the potty!" and rushed him there where he finished.

The third was a surprise poopy that he had late this evening. This one wasn't a total miss in my book, because we were sitting in the living room, and I caught Ryden going to sit on his potty. Eric helped him with his pants and he peed right away (as he always does on the potty now. Every time, RIGHT away). Then he got up immediately, and Eric mentioned how he smelled like he farted. WEll, about a minute later, I heard Ryden over in the corner saying, "no! no! no!".
It was only after I checked him, that I realized why he was saying that... hahaha!
He tried the potty, but since it didn't come out right away (just pee), I think that is why he got up. Plus, we were only watching for pee. Surprise poops always throws everyone off. heh!

All this tells me that he is getting that poopy doesn't go in his undies, he's just a little in limbo about what to do. With time, we will help him and he will learn. This I am sure about.
I will also add that this was the first time Eric saw him go to the potty on his own will. I think he was very impressed with his progress.
I can still here him saying the no no no. :)

The reason why I said today was a dance is because there were quite a few highlights to balance out the misses.

This morning when he woke up, I took him to the potty right away. When I took off his diaper, I noticed it was wet, so, I thought I had already missed his morning pee. Well, I didn't. :) So, the wetness must have been from some time during the night, or really early morning. This was good info, because I didn't know if he was going the whole night dry and just peeing in the morning, or what. Now, I do.

We went to Target and bought his first pairs of little boy undies. And to all of you mamas that cloth diaper, in my opinion, they don't compare to the cuteness of toddler undies!!! I fell in love. WE got him Mickey Mouse ones, Super Y Super Reader (not sure the name, a show on PBS) and Yo Gabba Gabba ones.
That is all he wore after he woke up from his nap for the rest of the day.

Another great moment was going to the beach. After an hour of getting down there, playing and running around, we went to clean up and leave. I rinsed him off at the little beach showers, took him to the restroom- he peed!!!!!! and I changed his clothes and we set off home. And this was a big pee, so, he must have practiced some type of holding it.
He, however, did not like it when he I tried to potty him behind a bush at the beach. Probably because I took his shovel away to do so. haah!!
Our first trip out in undies and no accidents!!

I feel my next job is backing off a little and letting him make some more mistakes. At this point he is peeing EVERY time we put him on the potty, even if it is only a few drops. I think it is great that he knows what the potty is for, but I don't think it is helping him to problem solve on his own when he feels the urge to pee. He needs to be caught a couple of times mid-pee, so, I can rush him to the potty for him to realize the ONLY place you pee is the potty. Not as well. Am I being silly, or does that make since?
So, I think I am going take a backseat to all of this and see how things go. I will still offer the potty, but not as often. I will also not offer and take him anyways, unless I know it has been a while, and he is distracted.

I'm sure we will get more misses, but I think we will gain more progress in the end.

I also found this blog entry from someone else yesterday when I was googling toddler potty training and found it interesting. It confirmed a few things I have already been thinking. It also gave me an extra boost of encouragement to keep this going.

My goal is still to have him diaperless and in undies by 2. I would love for him to be diaperless at night as well, but I am not going to hold my breath on that one.

mama to a little boy in awesome undies,
me