So, I am now on Day 7 of my "3 Day program," which has been quite exhausting.  I think the program really does work for most kids, and should work for Derek, except he is the "Lisa and Kevin breed of stubborn."  You see, this program is all about training your child to understand their body and when it is telling them to go, but I don't think it is connecting and I am kicking myself for not doing this with Derek right at 2, instead of waiting until he was older and more stubborn.

Here is how it has been going . . .

• Day One we threw away the diapers, broke out the underwear, and were on our way.  I followed my little man around every second of the day, watching carefully.  He had 7 accidents, but half of them he finished on the potty.  What I expected it to be.
• Day Two was a little different.  He still had a few accidents, but was going 4 or 5 hours without going, making it a little hard to teach anything, since he hardly went at all.
• Day Three was even worse with the time in between, and I was loosing motivation.  Plus, I started feeling like if I played one more game of Candy Land, I would scream.  It was the day it was all supposed to click.  It didn't 
• The next few days followed the same way – Derek would go 4-5 hours without going to the bathroom, and when I finally took my eyes off him to make sandwiches for lunch, then he would go.  Murphy's law, you could say.
• Sunday he was dry the whole day, which I think happened because of sheer luck and the fact that he went 9 hours without going potty.  (But hey, I really don't mind if he goes that long – it is wonderful for naps and nighttime, but it is just really hard for training.)
• Today was a backtrack, and made me think I need to rethink my entire approach, because even though I am going a little crazy, I am not going back to diapers.
• I talked to my amazing sister Cheryl, a mother of seven who had all of her kids potty trained right around their second birthday.  She gave me some tips and I think I may try a few of her things, and merge it with what I was doing. 
• On the bright side, Derek LOVES his underwear!!  He is always so happy when he is successful, that I know when he gets it, he will be very proud of himself.  And he is totally dry at naps and night.

As you can see, the adventure is far from over, but hopefully there is an end in sight.  I have to do it someday, might as well do it now :).  Here's a little look at my soon to be "big kid" in his underwear – they really accentuate his pot belly – he he!  And I guess it doesn't help that he has a mouth full of food.