Public tolieting

With all the stress going on around here, I've gotten really doubtful as to whether or not we should continue with toliet traing. Wink thought we should keep going since this has been a positive thing for Cal. It is one of the things we can really praise him for and focus on, in the midst of having a new baby sister. I asked Wink to gauge cal's interest after his nap. He woke up in a BAD mood and was screaming that he didn't want to wear his underwear when Wink tried. So I thought that was it. But after drinking his milk and cuddling with daddy for 30 minutes or so, he said, "I have to go peep". So he used the toliet and then we put him in underwear! :) Then again before bed we put him in a diaper for sleeping and he said "I have to go peep!" I'm so proud that even though he was in his diaper he STILL initiated! :) So, we are back in potty-training mode.

We had 2 incidents today that I'm not sure how to deal with. Both have to do with being out and about and having Lissi in the front carrier and being unable to help Cal. The first time was in a park and I tried to get him to sit on a curb and just point down. But, I couldn't help very much because of the baby and so he pointed into his pants and they got all wet. The next time was in a restaurant restroom where I could barely hold him on the big seat (we have one of those toddler inserts) and so he was uncomfortable and scared and didn't even want to try to go. Again, I probably could have helped him a lot more if I wasn't holding Lissi. When he says he has to go, we have about 30 seconds or less to do something about it. We had success in a public bathroom tonight. We went out to ice cream and while we were there he said he needed the bathroom. There was only one bathroom (a new fear of mine), but it was vacant. We used a new straddle method and I held him securly and it seemed to work well. I *think* that I can do it again while having Lissi in the front pack as well. "We'll see..." (this is a quote because it a very common phrase of Cal's these days. It is absolutely adorable to hear a two year old say these words!)

We are continuing cautiously on this road. I have no problems going back to diapers if that is what we need to do. But as long as we have success and no tears are shed, I'm going to let Cal do the leading on this one. It's strange to me that he is doing so well with potty training, while also showing more regressive behavior in other ways. He wants to be fed at dinner time, go in the front carrier, etc. I think it may be directly related to missing daddy (these regressive behaviors really come out in the late afternoon and evening when daddy is up). I'm really not sure what to think of this and not sure if we should just ignore it or deal with it. "We'll see..."