Stepping stone - potty training weekend!

So I have been feeling tremendously guilty for deciding to travel to Disneyland with my family back in April for a while. Although it was one of the best vacay by far,and I will always be fond of it, there was something that should have been done instead... Matthew was about 19 months when we went. He was showing sure signs of interest to potty training. Ignoring my instincts, we went ahead with the vacation anyway. Besides, it would have been a totally waste if we didn't go, so I shouldn't feel guilty, right? Well, this past Turkey long weekend I sure paid the price for it! I have been meaning to dedicate a weekend at home but have been putting it off for some time as the weather's been super gorgeous. But since Thursday and Friday, Matthew had peed a total of 3 times at school so I had no choice to ignore the sign this time. Since about 18 months, Matthew had an interest in using the potty. But these days he could care less since it's become habitual to go in his diaper. OMG, I was not expecting it to be this tiring and wet! My plan was to take the boot camp approach: lock ourselves indoors, feed him salty goodness and load him up with liquids. My plan didn't include accidents after accidents after accidents... It sure was discouraging! He had woken up by 8 Saturday morning and by noon, he had already 8 accidents! Yep, you read it right, a big whooping 8! I had the portable potty set up in the living room for easy access and he was reminded to visit the potty every 30 minutes. Sure enough, every 30 minutes he sat, and as soon as he pulled up his undies the pee drenched down his leg to form a nice size puddle for mommy to clean. No matter how long he sat on the potty, it was always guaranteed that he'd pee right after. It took about 15 minutes to clean up each time and wash him up just to have this whole routine reset itself. The second day was better. He made a pee when he got up (his diaper was pretty full already) and then didn't make a pee or have an accident for several hours. At this time, I was a bit worried as his pull-up was dry. We had gone to Confederation Park for Aydin's birthday party. Eventually half way through the party, he had peed in the pull up. We did try on the potty right when we got there and right when we left. He didn't pee all the way until we got home and had one before his nap. The third day by far was the best. He was making it to the potty on time and doing his business. It's cute too because he'll say "oh o" if he pees on the floor and "no oh o" if he makes it to the potty on time. We originally decided to reward him with a train set. So we got tracks and individual trains and the idea was to give it to him after so many pees. But now I've changed my mind. We do of course give him lots of positive reinforcement but my view is that he's not asking for trains, so why reward him when there's no connection anyway? Plus, when would you stop? So now Matthew has a train set to play with for being Matthew :) It's quite shocking how strong his love for trains is recently. So this figure 8 train set has been his favourite for the last few days. I can't believe my two year old has this long of an attention span for one thing! When we came home today from school, after of course his daily ritual of washing his hands and stuff, he played with the train set until dinner. That was like over an hour! Then after dinner he played with it until bath time. Day one of potty training at school was a huge bust. I know I shouldn't put too much emphasis and I know that it's not an overnight concept. He went through all 4 pairs of changes that I brought to school. The second day was better as it was only three. Lots of laundry the last few days! The Friday before this wet weekend started, we went to the Stanley Park Halloween Train ride. Matthew had tons of fun and really enjoyed it compared to last year. Last year, he was super scared and whined almost the whole ride. This year, he was looking left and right and pointing at things. I'm surprised he didn't suffer from whip lash! We also bought him a bag of popcorn which he wouldn't let go until the last kernel was in his tummy! He ate tons: his own dinner, the bag of popcorn, then we went to a Mexican restaurant on Denman and he had some of daddy's rice, mommy's soup and tons of chips. Yum yum! Auntie Christine has some serious competition. She better keep her eye on her popcorn!