Control

Potty training is still in progress at the Chen house. This cute little boy seen below has been somewhat resistant recently. When we started two weeks ago he contently sat on the potty chair, way longer than I wanted him to, and he would pee and poop without any problems. If we wasn't sitting on the potty chair and cued he would have frequent accidents but he didn't refuse to go on the potty chair if he needed to.

Two weeks in, Erik has gained significant control over his bowels. How do I know this? Well, he will hold his urine in for hours and hours. He really doesn't have many accidents when he is running around naked. However, after 2-3 hours of not using the potty chair he will start leaking. Then when he is sat on the potty chair he has no choice but to go. I do get him to sit on the potty chair for about 5 minutes every 45-60 minutes but if his bladder is not overflowing he will hold it in.

At this point I am still putting him in diapers when we leave the house. If he has been diaper free for an hour or two and hasn't conceded to the toliet he will squat down and pee within 10 seconds of putting a diaper on him. Err!!

Very frustrating. Part of me wants to just quit all training. The other part of me wants to throw away all of the diapers so he only has one choice -- the potty chair. For now I think I am going to keep doing what I am doing. Let him run around naked or in undies at home and keep the diapers for night and when we are out. If Erik seems more stressed out by it we will stop. If he is doing okay I will probably throw out all the diapers in mid September (after our next set of visitors have left and we are in a more normal routine).

I think this is the first time as a parent that I have felt quite clueless as to the right way of going about this. Poor Erik, already being experimented on! Any tricks you have found to work would be welcome.