If at first you don't succeed... well, we'll try again later.

So after much thought, consideration, and some major jitters, I decided to try a little potty experiment with D this week (I've written a few posts before on D's experiences with the potty and thoughts on potty training/learning).  So, with D's second birthday fast approaching, I ordered some cotton training pants off Amazon, read up a little, and with a mix of excitement and pure fear decided to jump right in.

The plan: for several days prior, I offered D the chance to go sit on the potty at every diaper change.  He's sat on the potty off and on before, but I've never made it that constant of a thing.  He was pretty receptive each time, getting excited about sitting on the "big potty" (apparently the Baby Bjorn potty chair that he liked so much last summer is now totally old news).  Then, Thursday morning we got up and I showed him his new underpants and said we'd be using those today instead of diapers. He thought this was pretty nifty, and was eager to put them on.

Over the next 3 or 4 hours he went through two pairs of cotton underpants and sat on the potty with me several times, reading lots of books and using lots of toilet paper but not having anything really... happen.  Then he got up from the potty and I forget the exact words he used but basically very calmly and matter-of-factly asked for his diaper back.

He was done with this potty game.  And I really do think that's what it is to him right now-- a game. A fun thing. But he seemed to have little interest in actually going pee or poop in the potty, and didn't seem at all bothered by his underpants being wet after he peed in them.

And since I have no interest in making this a battle and know we still have plenty of time, I put him back in diapers and he was happy as a clam.

It really helped that the night before this I'd re-read an email from a friend telling me about when she potty trained her daughter, and how they tried one weekend, and it was miserable so gave up and went back to diapers, then several weeks later tried again and same thing... then the third time it just clicked and everything went so smoothly and easily.  That helped me be totally ok with saying, "Ok, this is not the right time. We'll try again a little later."

I still think I missed the boat when we had those pooping successes last year.  I figured it was so early, that it would keep happening, and it also was a busy summer, and so I didn't try to encourage potty use.  I think that might've been a window of opportunity that was open for a while and then closed, and I missed it.  But, it's not like that's the only one, and it's also not like I'm worrying or fretting about D using the potty. It will come, and I will try to the best of my ability to read D's cues and abide by his timetable and no one else's.  For now we'll keep the potties available for use if/when he wants, and maybe try going diaper-less again in a few weeks/months.