Time to get down to "business"

WARNING: The following message contains a whole lot of potty talk.

We are in full-fledged potty training mode here. It is intense.

Jackson has had the poo-poo on the potty thing mastered pretty well for a while now; I think he has had 2 dirty diapers in the last 3 months, and those were only because people weren't paying attention when he told them he had to go potty. So we pretty much consider poop to be "in the bag"...so to speak.

The pee-pee on the potty thing has not been quite so easy. It may be because poo-poo is a conscious effort and pee-pee can sort of just "leak" out, or it may be because Jack is simply unaware when he pees (since diapers are made to keep the wetness off kids' bottoms).

I had a hunch it was the latter, so on Wednesday we got some cloth training pants:

and decided to give it a whirl. My thought was that if Jack understands how unpleasant it is to have wet underwear (and a wet bottom), he may be a bit more aware of the whole process.

Wednesday did not go terribly well. There were 3 accidents in the morning, and I was feeling very discouraged. I knew that I had to stick with it though, because consistency is one of the most important principles of parenting. If gave up, he would too.

**Side note** I want to be clear that I did not just put the underpants on him and then let him run free. I ask him constantly if he needs to go potty, and I put him on the potty regardless of what he says AT LEAST every 30 minutes. Usually it's more like every 20 minutes. Toddlers will not potty train themselves.

Anywho, on Wednesday I put a diaper on him for nap time (staying dry while asleep is a whole other ball game), then we tried the big boy underwear again when he got up at 2:00. To my great delight, he stayed dry all afternoon, until 8:00 when he had another accident. All in all, it wasn't too bad of a day, considering the 6 hours of dryness (and it was only the first day!).

Thursday went a bit more smoothly. Jack made it all morning until 11:30 am without an accident! Not only that, but he had told Bo (I was at MOPS, duh! ;-) ) at one point that he had to go potty (unsolicited). That was a big step!

I got home during Jack's nap. When he woke up, I put him on the potty as always and put his big boy underwear on him. He was not in a good mood after his nap, and threw a fit the whole time he was on the potty--apparently instead of peeing. Soon after I got him off the potty, he had an accident. I was devastated. I know it seems silly, but I was almost in tears at that point.

It was only 2:00 though, and there was a lot of day left, so I was determined to make the most of it. I'm glad I did because Jack went the rest of the day without an accident!!! *Rejoice*

Today is Friday, and although it is only 12:30 pm, this is the best day yet--Jack is accident-free thus far! I am praying like the dickens that he will continue to improve and grasp the concept and that he will be completely potty trained (except for night time, although it would be okay with me if he were potty trained at night too...but I won't push it...) soon. Please, Lord.