A Jonathan Potty update

I started potty training Jonathan on Monday morning. In my previous post, I mentioned that Jonathan is particularly difficult and strong willed. I could have waited longer like I did with Martin, but I pretty much knew that it was going to be difficult to potty train him whether I did it this week or waited another 6 months.
Many of you also know, that I cloth diaper my babies, and that I make all the diapers myself. It just so happened that in the month that Rosalie was born, Jonathan outgrew all of the size large diapers that I had made. You can imagine that with 4 children, and especially a newborn, I did not have time to sew another set of bigger diapers.
So, Jonathan has been wearing disposable diapers since Rosalie was born. Okay . . . I have been cloth diapering for over 4 years straight with one child or another, so I have huge issues with having to spend money on paper diapers that are extremely smelly from all the chemicals, that create far too much waste for our landfills, and that I have to throw away after just one use. However, we had 2 major life changes in the last 4 months. First, we had a baby, thus pushing Jonathan out of his baby status, and second we moved. So, as much as I wanted to dive into potty training, I knew that I had to get through those two things before I could get him out of diapers. So, once we had a couple of weeks in the new place and he seemed to be adjusted quite well . . . we made the plunge.
So, Monday was pretty frustrating. I put him in underwear straight away. It's my opinion that pull ups do more to confuse the matter than help. So, I put him in underwear and we were on our way. He is very stubborn, so we had some accidents as I expected. Accidents actually help them to learn. I have put all three of my boys straight into underwear and I have noticed that they were able to learn their body cues better and it was a pretty quick process.
We managed to get through Monday, though without too many tears. I put him in a diaper for naps and night time. I understand the benefit of putting them in underwear for naps and nighttime too, and I know that people have much success with that. I just don't have the nerve to do it! I really don't want their sleep interrupted. So, Tuesday morning comes, and Jonathan woke up happy. When I told him it was time to get dressed, he was still happy. When I pulled out the underwear, he freaked out. He threw a tantrum, but we managed to get the underwear on anyway. Once it was on, he paraded around showing everyone his underwear. Hmmm . . .so what was the tantrum all about anyway?
He had a couple of accidents and a couple of successes. I decided to put him down for his nap in underwear. He woke up dry, and even went #1 in the potty when he woke up. So, I am thinking, wow, this is going really well! Then the rest of the afternoon was spent going to the potty hundreds of times it seems, for him to sit on the potty for 1 second(no exaggeration), and then get up and say "all done". He seriously held it for hours - about 5 hours to be exact. So, there were lots of trips to the potty and lots of dancing around holding it, but no release! Yikes! We discovered at some point during this process that he had a splinter, or what we thought was a splinter, in his hand. So, Rich went to work on it, and he was so traumatized by it that he release came and the floodgates opened! I was so relieved that he finally went that I could care less that it happened to be all over the floor!
After that I put him to bed, in a diaper, and he slept off the trauma of the day.
Wednesday morning comes. He wakes up happy and happily puts underwear on for the day. His diaper was slightly wet. It was not full or even nearly full. We take lots of trips to the potty and no success. He dances around holding it. He finally goes at some point, but to be honest, I have no idea if it was on the potty or an accident. . . or a little of both. I remember it being a very stressful morning, however. I put him down for a nap, and he wakes up from his nap dry and spends the afternoon much the same way, dancing around and holding it.
I am now convinced that he is completely ready to be potty trained. He COMPLETELY understands his body cues, has no trouble holding it, but has no desire to give me the satisfaction of going on the potty. We manage to get through this day, somehow. Some successes came and we did a lot of praising.
Thursday morning was hairy at best. Jonathan got his underwear on without a fuss, and he started being difficult about something completely unrelated to potty training. (I think he wasn't happy about his breakfast) I knew he had to go #1 because he'd been up for almost an hour and hadn't gone yet. But he was throwing a tantrum over breakfast and needed to be disciplined, so I disciplined him and the floodgates opened on the kitchen floor. Whew! At least he went!
A little later, he was being disrespectful toward me, so I disciplined him again(unrelated to potty training, but we happened to be in the bathroom at the time), and during the disciplining, he started peeing, so I put him on the potty quickly where he finished! YAY!
He went down for a nap, woke up dry. (The boy has an iron bladder! It matches his will!) About 45 minutes after, he woke up from nap, he told me he had to go, and he went. That's right! It was that easy. He didn't just sit there for 1 second and get up. He sat down and stayed there, and he went. I was so encouraged! Then we spent then next 4 hours going to the potty and not doing anything. More dancing around and more holding it. But finally after our family walk, he came inside and he went! YAY!
Bedtime came, and I still used a diaper for him. He woke up this morning dry as a bone! So, we took off the diaper put on the underwear and I waited for him to tell me he had to go. And we made several trips with no successes, and finally success!!! He went. Then about an hour and half later he went again!
What a week! Depending on how today goes, I am considering putting him in underwear tonight. My plan was to wait on night time training until he showed full signs of submitting to daytime training. So, I still might wait a few days before I try nighttime. We'll see. If you managed to make it this far, thanks for reading.
Admittedly, I have had moments this week (several of them), that I allowed my frustration to get the best of me. I've never had a child like Jonathan, who is so stubborn and strong willed. I just pray that we can control that strong will in such a way that it will turn out to be his greatest asset. May God bless my sweet Jonathan!