But first, overall, here's where we are: we set the timer for 45 minutes at a pop and make him try when it goes off. He's so trained to hear timers now that he comments on them at the grocery store, etc.: "Mommy! Timer!" Of course, he sometimes refuses to try when the timer dings, which leads to wailing and gnashing of teeth, and often wet pants 5 minutes later. So it's not about the going, it's about the power struggle.
The #2 situation is a little messier (pun intended). We haven't had a lot of success yet. His favorite time to go is 10 minutes after we've put him to bed. To combat that, Ed point him to bed naked one night, which worked, but we have not had fairly consistent success here as we have with #1. Oh, and whoever catches him after he has pooped in his pants gets told, "Shhh....don't tell Daddy/Mommy." Kid, we don't have to tell them. They can smell you.
So back to last night. We put him to bed after a long, fun day of play with Dustin and Kelly and Abbey. He hadn't pooped. We put him in practice pants (pull-ups) and told him to let us know if he needed to go poop. About 30 minutes later, Ed sees him at the foot of the stairs, naked from the waist down. Based on his prior history of poop finger painting, this does NOT look good. Ed takes him back upstairs, asking where his poop is, and fearing the worst. I'll let the conversation speak for itself.
Ed: "Where's your poopoo, TJ?"
TJ: "In the toilet."
Ed: "Did you make poopoos on the potty, TJ?"
TJ: "Nope. In my practice pants."
Ed: "Where are you practice pants?"
TJ: "In there." (points to the diaper genie)
Ed, noticing wipes strewn all over the bedroom: "What did you use the wipes for, TJ?"
TJ: "To clean my butt."
Ha ha ha ha ha!
He knows he's going to get in trouble for pooping in his diaper, so he tries to clean up the evidence himself. I have to say that even though it's not the desired outcome, it's a giant leap forward from the days of finger painting...
After Ed puts him back to bed (with new practice pants and a short lecture), the four of us are laughing and talking about how Thomas is sort of scary smart--that's a lot of conniving for a 3-year-old. Even if he doesn't always do it, he clearly gets the potty training concept.
Fast forward to this morning...now only does TJ pee in his pants twice (adding to twice yesterday, so four times and lots of laundry this weekend), when Ed asks him to pick up his shoes, he can't find them, even though he's practically stepping on them. We may be taking back that "super smart" label. And investing in pull-up stock.
edited to add: One more bit of potty humor: The other night TJ successfully pooped on the potty for me. He's looking at it proudly, and says what sounds like, "that's a he** of a poop!" I panicked, wondering who he'd heard that word from, because with the exception of about 2-weeks-worth of a different swear word he heard and repeated over and over last summer, we've been fairly good about keeping those words away from his ears. I asked him to repeat it. He was saying that it's a "hill" of a poop! (Insert mental image here). Whew.
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