Non-Coercive Potty Training: A detour

The potty-training odyssey continues.

Lucas has cycled through a couple of colds over the past two weeks, and with the commensurate lack of consistency, our early potty-training success with the timer has waned just a bit. By waned, I mean that the actual using of the toilet has slowed down to a trickle, (pun intended).

However …

The independence and confidence gained from our experiment with the timer has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for Lucas. He now chooses his own outfits and can put them on by himself. He has taught himself how to put on his shoes and socks. He'll get up and change his pajamas if decides another set would be a better choice. He can even change his own pull-up!

This last one has been a bit of an entertainer. The first time we saw him do this was at Grandma's. I was in the kitchen with my mom, and Lucas had just finished eating dinner. I thought he was playing in the living room, but instead, he was pulling the diaper bag from the chair, taking out the changing pad and wipes, and getting a new pull-up. When I caught on to what he was doing, I thought I'd sit back and see what happened.

Off came his little jeans. He wiggled out of his pull-up and then flung it off with a kick of his leg (must be a guy gene). Then he grabbed a wipe, got on his back on the changing pad, put his legs high in the air, and wiped himself off. After that, he pulled on a fresh pull-up, stood up and yelled, "I changed myself!!!" while running around the house laughing hysterically.

I was quite proud of him, and also glad that it wasn't a poop diaper.

Yesterday, I was again proud, but this time not quite so lucky.

I was on my computer in the living room while Lucas was napping. Suddenly he burst on the scene, wearing his pajama top, but jean shorts. He was smiling like the Cheshire cat.

"I noticed that you changed into shorts all by yourself," I said. "Is your pull-up wet from your nap? Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

"No, I already pooped," he answered.

"Oh, so you need me to change your pull-up for you?" I tried to clarify.

"No, I already changed my pull-up." Then a big laugh, "I changed my poopy pull-up all by myself!!!"

Uh-oh!

I ran to his bedroom to find his poopy pull-up neatly placed on the floor at the foot of his bed, with some used wipes on it. The wipe container was still sitting out on his bed. There was no evident mess.

Huh… Wow… Okay, then.

His preschool says he has to be toilet-learned by September.  Even if he isn't using the toilet 100% by then, do you suppose this counts?