Loathing Potty-Training but Loving Cute Booties wearing Underoos

Can I just say that I despise this stage! Potty-training is such a giant commitment and its like a never ending battle of wills, regardless of how well the child understands the concept. At least that has been my experience with my past 2 children. And Simon is proving to be as much or more of a challenge than my other two!

To be honest, I was skeptical he would even have a clue about controlling his urge not to urinate all over my house. Surprisingly enough, after 2 days of forcing him to sit on the potty (under really fun and pleasant circumstances of movies, new toys, and all the juice and snacks he could ever want), he started getting the hang of it pretty quickly. Considering the fact that on day one he couldn't peel himself away from his movie long enough to acknowledge he was peeing, even as we cheered, made him get off the potty to flush and practically forced him to eat a special treat for peeing.

By day three, he was beginning to self-initiate and "hold it" for close to 45 minutes without an accident. After about a week, potty training was a success, and Simon was officially the easiest and quickest child to potty train that I had ever seen!

Then we went to San Diego....He did pretty good, remarkably he stayed dry the entire 8.5 hour drive down there, and even making pit-stops at gas stations! It seemed too good to be true....and it was. The last day there, Simon decided he didn't want to go potty anymore. He refused to sit on the throne, and it was a giant battle from then on to get him to do the duty.

It has been a continuous power struggle since we got back. Simon got an intestinal virus, so on went he pull-ups for 3 days straight (believe me, it was the right thing to do), which did not help with the potty-training issues. This morning, I took Simon to the potty like 5 times, and again, he refused to sit and even try to go. And 5 minutes after an attempt, he peed on the carpet (not the first time of course). However, after the accident that just about ruined my day, he decided he wanted to go....and he did! (probably to escape his 2 hour therapy sessions) AND we haven't had a single accident all day long, not even during naps! And the saga continues, and will probably go on and on for months.