Mansion/Potty Training

As promised, here are some picture of the large home (I like to call it a mansion :)) we stayed at in Bear Lake and some pics from last weekend when we stayed there. Stay tuned below to hear about potty training...

Do you think we had enough snacks/food for 4 days? Close to a 4 month supply...haha

Isn't the house amazing? We had such a great time and it was really the first time we were able to be with a ton of family all under ONE roof which was nice.

Now, onto potty training talk...
Parker has been going potty on the toilet one to two times a day for a couple months now. We introduced him to the toilet at about 18 months and haven't pushed it just waiting until he told us he's "ready". I've heard from soooo many people to just wait until they are ready because if you don't you'll have to do it all over again when they are.
Well, for a while now I've thought he might be ready but I've just been too lazy to actually set aside a week or so for hard core potty training. So I told myself that on Monday (tomorrow) I would start this and finish it. I would have a potty trained son! It would be great. So all week I had been telling him that his diapers were almost gone and so next week he would get to wear "big boy underwear"!
Then on Friday morning he said he needed to go potty. He went and then I asked him if he wanted a diaper on or if he wanted to wear big boy underwear. He said, "My diapers are all gone. Underwear!". So, I thought, "here it goes. Don't know if I'm ready, but why not? I'm all in.".
We started by setting the timer for every 30 minutes and we would tell him to at least try when the potty timer went off. When he went potty in it toilet he'd get to pick a treat out of the treat basket, get a sticker on his potty chart, and get to make a phone call to tell someone he went potty.
As a side note, have you heard of "Signing Time"? It's wonderful. We used it a lot more with Parker than we have with Spencer mostly out of laziness with Spencer. But Parker was able to do lots of signs at a young age and loved learning them. But they have a DVD of Signing Time called "Potty Time!". We have it and it's great. But what is REALLY GREAT is the FREE APP of it! There's a sticker chart, free videos of the songs and Rachel (the main lady on it) will CALL YOU WHEN YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT OR GO POTTY ON THE TOILET! It pretty much rocks. Parker LOVES "Calling" Rachel when he goes potty. haha.

Anyways, Friday went better than I thought. 10 successes in the toilet and only 2 accidents. I expected much worse. I was feelin' pretty good about it. Tired from being SO excited for every success (I'm telling you-it's exhausting to be so positive. haha.) but happy.

Then there was Saturday. Again, setting the timer for every 30 minutes, he gets a treat when he goes, a sticker and to call someone. Again, only 2 accidents. But by now I'm getting more exhausted. He asks for help with everything. He wants help with pulling his pants down, pulling his underwear down, washing his hands, etc. It's work.

Sunday. Today. No more treats for "going". I'm trying the whole "it's just something we do now". But he can still have a sticker and make a phone call. I tried to go without setting the timer today seeing if he'd just tell me he needed to go. 5 accidents. It's been a rough day. Darrin didn't feel well today so he stayed home from church and I left Parker with him so that Parker could use the potty when he needed and stay in the routine we've been doing. He did great while I was gone. And then for naptime he even kept his diaper dry! (We've been doing diapers during naptime and night time still. We told him there's only enough diapers just for sleeping time.) And then it was just accident after accident. He'd have an accident right after I just watched him go in the toilet.
It's pretty rare still that he tells ME when he needs to "go". I need to remind him every 30 minutes. And if I miss the time frame, that's usually when there's an accident. He also doesn't always go willingly. There's a lot of "I don't like to go potty!".
Accidents are hard for me. Is it bad that I want him to be sad or disgusted when he has an accident? I want some feeling from him like maybe tears or an "I'm so sorry Mom, I had an accident. :(" But all he does is tell me he had an accident. No remorse. No tears or frowns. Just matter of factly. From everything I've read, you're NOT SUPPOSED TO GET MAD OR UPSET. So, I try to put on a happy face and say, "That's so sad Parker, let's try to listen to our bodies and tell Mom or Dad when you need to go potty. OK? Let's keep our underwear dry!" With a happy attitude. When inside I'm going "GRRRRRRR! Diapers were so much easier than this! Why did I start this? Is he really ready? I'm soooooo tired. Is the day every going to come when he actually goes all by himself without being reminded every 30 minutes?"
But please just let me rant for a minute. Wait, that's what I've been doing. Oh well. I am TIRED. I feel so helpless and DONE. It's been a reeeeeeaaaaalllyyyy long day. Hard day. In all reality, he hasn't done bad. I'm very proud of him and all in all he's doing great! Don't worry, I've been doing a pretty good job of acting chipper and happy and smiles allllllll day long. I'm trying really hard to not let him know how HARD this is. But I just needed to write it out. Blah. Hopefully I don't give up (please don't give up self-I don't want to do this again!), hopefully someday we'll be able to go out in public, hopefully Parker will recognize that accidents are gross and uncomfortable, hopefully he'll have a DESIRE to go when he needs to, hopefully someday he'll be able to just do it ALL BY HIMSELF :). That will be a wonderful day. Now, to cheer me up, some pictures. I just couldn't help myself with the first...haha :)