Adventures in Potty Training, Week 1

Monday:  Ollie got underwear on shortly after getting home.  I think he stayed dry for a little while, but then, after dinner while I was washing the dishes, he disappeared from our view for a few minutes.  Wes found him pretty wet but not dripping and rushed him to the potty.  He stripped him down, gave me the dirty clothes, and I went upstairs.  On my way back down, I noticed some small brown things on the floor and the dog very interested.  "His, or hers?" I asked Wes, gesturing towards the dog.  Wes thought it was pieces of dog bone, but upon carting it to the trash -- and ultimately the toilet -- realized it was not dog bone.  Further investigation led to discovery that there was a full bowel movement in his underwear.  Not sure if pooping in the underwear is a step forward from only going in the diaper or a step back from going in the potty ("not a raisin"), but we are getting more tuned in to his signals each day.

Tuesday: According to his teacher, Ollie peed in the potty at daycare after waking up dry from his nap.  For this, he received a stamp of a zebra on his left hand.  He got underwear on soon after getting home, then peed all over them about 1 minute later.  He changed into more, then put on a diaper to go to the car wash with Wes.  During dinner, he made the call, and I took off a still-dry diaper and peed on the toilet.  He changed back into underwear.  While playing in the living room after dinner, he says, "Poop," but when I ask him if he needs to go potty, he says "no."  Shortly thereafter, I hear some grunting and he's a little wet.  I get him on the potty, thinking we missed a chance, but several minutes later -- after some real focus and determination -- he poops in the potty!  Complete bowel movement.  (Very, very smelly.)  Big celebration.

Wednesday: Wes was on duty alone, so Oliver stayed in his underwear while they took the car to the car wash.

And so went the rest of the week.  Short afternoons at home, and little time in underwear.  Today (a week later), he asked to sit on the potty twice and actually removed his pants and diaper once by himself to do it.  We're trying.  It's just going to take some time.