Define Successful

We decided, what with Josh being home 4 days in a row, that President's weekend would be a good time to give potty training a whirl. We figured the "nakey bum" route would be our best bet, so Friday morning, we took off their diapers told them if they had to go potty, they had to use the toilet. Simple enough, right?

It was a somewhat stressful first morning. Zeke cried for a solid 5 minutes because he wanted a "biaper" on. Deacon, however, was very pleased to be not only pantsless, but diaperless as well. By the end of the day though, Zeke had pretty much figured it out, he even pooped on the little toilet I set up in the living room during movie time (I'm no fool, I know there's no chance of them going to the bathroom to go to the bathroom when the TV is on). Deacon, however, had had 3 accidents that day, the first involving poop, which I could smell, but could not find. Josh finally found it after I went on about the smell enough.

But now I feel we're in sort of a stalemate. Zeke will use either the little toilet or the actual "big potty" to pee. He has yet to poop again in either one. He LOVES the little toilet though, and I had to move it into the bathroom because otherwise he would just sit on it all. day. long. Seriously, all day. Deacon has yet to do much of anything in either toilet. He's gone twice, I think, but he's happy to just sit there, reading his books and singing his songs. We've tried putting them in underpants, to get used to the idea of them, but Zeke pees in them. We still put them in diapers for naptime and bedtime because, well, because we don't think they're fulling grasping the concept, and we're waiting for them to show more awareness, I guess.

Now, I know that Deacon is still a bit young, so I'm not expecting too much from him. I cheer when he does actually use the toilet, but the fact that he waits until he has a diaper on doesn't really frustrate me. In fact, it proves to me that he has really good bowel control since he's able to hold it for however long he's nakie for. But he isn't even 3 yet, so I'm not rushing him.

What frustrates us most, I think, is Zeke's insistance on wearing diapers. The kid literally cheers when it's time to put diapers back on. He is getting better about not crying when he's not "allowed" to wear one, but he still gets WAY too excited about putting one back on at the end of the day. I know it's something we just need to keep going with, but how do we get him to understand the concepts behind it all better?

So, part of me feels like it's been a good thing, and we've been successful in that they are practicing exercising control over their bowels. They enjoy using the toilet (our water bill will probably be a bit higher this month than normal) even if they don't use the toilet. They are staying dry more often through naptimes. But then part of me feels like, if Zeke can figure all of this out so quickly, why can't he grasp the rest of it? What am I missing/not seeing/grasping myself?

But that's where we are right now. When we're home, we're running around pantsless. When we're sleeping or out on the town, we're in diapers. Is that it? Am I sending conflicting messages by putting them in diapers when we go out/sleep because I don't want to deal with the inevitable messes being diaperless/in underpants will make? Does this post make any sense at all? My mind has started wandering as it's closing in on the end of naptime, so I'm not even sure what I'm saying anymore. Anyone have any advice they'd like to share?