Potty Training

 **UPDATE (9-5-14):  After Pearce stood in front of me and went tee-tee right on the floor, I decided that's it, no more, I give up, throwing in the towel!  So, I found an extra diaper, put it on Pearce, went to Target and got a big box of diapers, and man, I feel so relieved!  I was so confident, but Pearce is just not into it yet.  I know he CAN do it, he just doesn't WANT to do it now.  And that is totally fine with me.  He'll get there when he's ready.  It's just not worth the battle or frustration that we were both feeling.  We will still practice casually when we're at home, but it will definitely be several more months until we really tackle potty training again .  I'm going to leave the following post on because I do want to remember our first try at it :)
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I started the adventure of potty training Pearce on August 23 at 2.5 years old.  I decided to follow the 3 Day method.  I felt like Pearce has been showing signs of readiness for several months, but just never had a big block of time to devote to the training.  We finally dove in on Aug. 23!  I got several new pairs of undies, lots of juice and special drinks for Pearce, a few inexpensive toys for special rewards, and M&M's for potty rewards.  I was ready!  The method I followed was all about having the child learn what it feels like to have to go potty...which meant having lots of accidents at first.  That first morning, I told Pearce that he is not a baby anymore and that diapers are only for babies so we needed to pack up all of his diapers.  He helped me put all of his diapers in a big bag and I told him we were going to give them to a baby that needed them.  Then I told him that he is a big boy and big boys wear undies.  I let him choose between two pairs and we took off his diaper and put them on.  Then I told him that when he needs to go tee-tee he needs to tell me so that he can go in the potty.  Every few minutes I would remind him to tell me when he needed to go potty and I would check his undies and if they were clean and dry, I would give lots of praise!  I had to stick by him every second and try to catch him while having an accident and then I would rush him to the potty.   
Every time he went potty he got an "m" and a sticker on the sticker chart.  When he filled up his sticker chart, he got a new toy.  I gave him lots of juice, water, capri sun's....lots of liquids and drinks he doesn't get to normally have so that we had lots of practice.  The first day, we had lots of accidents, but several successes, too!  The second day was more of the same...I was starting to feel a little discouraged by that night.  The third day, he only had once accident and TONS of successes!  By that evening, I was dying to get out of the house for a while, so we ventured to Barnes and Noble to play with the trains.  I kept telling Pearce to tell me when he had to go potty.  He actually told me and we went to the potty there and he did it!  Tuesday, I decided to just go for it and put his undies on him and we went to Gymboree.  I kept telling to tell me when he had to go....and at the end of class, he had an accident :(  The hard part now is getting him to stop what he's doing and go potty.  He does really well at home, but when we are out and about, that's when he has accidents.  I know it's just going to take lots and lots of practice (and patience), but I feel like the hard part is over.  He totally gets it....it's just that he now has to STOP and go when we are out of the house.  Work in progress!!

We did lots of playing, drinking, watching shows, drinking, and more drinking :)