On potty training and time outs

We've been working the last few weeks on potty training.  It seems to happen a lot on the weekends, when we tend to stay home rather than go out, and in the morning when it's a bit cooler.  Usually we'll get up on Saturdays, and I put underwear on Ollie.  Then he has breakfast, and we spend the morning outside while I pull weeds or something.  I take out water for both of us, his frog potty, and a few books.  And then every 20-30 minutes, he sits on the potty.  Last Saturday, we did just this.  He got up around 7:30am, and he sat on the potty almost every 20-30 minutes for the next four hours.  Did he pee in the potty?  No.  Did he pee in his underwear?  No.  I, naturally, used the bathroom at least two or three times, but Oliver -- bone dry.  He drank water.  He ate a normal breakfast, including a glass of milk, and then drank water while we were outside.  But he did not pee.  Finally around 11:30am, I caved.  I was hot and tired and not feeling especially well, and I wanted to go inside.  And while I know I might eventually have to go this route, I'm just not ready to let him have his run of the house in underwear.  I've already spent too much time cleaning pee off my rugs.  So I put him in a diaper -- which he soaked within the next 30 minutes.  It's possible that this is a good sign -- that Oliver understands not to pee in the underwear (unlikely, but possible) but doesn't understand to pee in the potty.  It's also possible that this is the first of a million setbacks with potty training.  I want the kid to potty train.  I really do.  But I'm not sure I know what I'm doing, and I'm not sure I'm completely committed to this right now.  On the days when I do keep Oliver home from daycare these few weeks I have off, I'm much more focused on doing fun things together, things that are not compatible with potty training.  But I'm thinking that next week, we might have to skip fun and potty train instead.

On a more positive note, time outs are going well.  I say that like we have to use them frequently, but we don't.  Maybe once or twice every few days, and most days not at all.  He usually gets them for some repeated behavior, like throwing hard toys, hitting the dog, getting to physical with me, or pushing on the door to the toy cabinet such that he might break it off.  He gets a warning when does something (which I'm not sure if he understands, but we do it anyway), and then if he does it again (usually smiling and looking right at us to see if we notice), he gets a time out.  Two minutes.  I tell him when I put him in time out what not to do ("No throwing the block" or "No hitting Lucy"), and I've noticed recently that when I go to take him out of time, he tells me what he did wrong or what he's not supposed to do, and he stops the behavior when he comes out.  If he's done something to me or Lucy, he gives me a hug or pats Lucy nicely.  It's great to have a kid who doesn't require a lot of discipline, but I know that could change, especially with a younger siblings coming, so I'm glad we have something in place to help if it does.