from diapers to underwear, well sort of

The term potty training does not describe the transition from diapers to underwear.
Well it might for some parents, and I can say I was almost one of them. I got myself trained to recognize the signs that he may have to go and his schedule which resulted in myself being trained, so we tried a new approach. After a few attempts where I gave up easily I finally rolled up the rugs and got serious. My new approach to potty training was to let Lance go naked/or just underwear, be prepared to clean up, praise him like crazy when he went, and see what happens. He did GREAT especially after he figured out how to pee standing up and we nixed the potty and just used a potty seat. We had a few accidents, but overall he was doing great. It wasn't always easy, and cleaning up wasn't always fun, but overall he had more successes then failures. We started on a Wednesday afternoon and by Saturday we were going out to Target, out to dinner, and anywhere else we needed to go diaper-free. The following week at home he did great and then I decided to mix things up a bit and go out of town.
On the drive up I had put him in a diaper just because I didn't know how often I would stop, when we did stop he peed and didn't pee in his diaper at all, I was so proud of him! Once we got to my friend's house we had quite a large number of accidents, I think he was so busy playing with the boys he didn't want to stop and go, but fortunately all the accidents happened outside, why he didn't just pull down his pants and go in the yard is beyond me. Overall he did a great job, I bought him pull-ups for the in the car and sleeping and they never lost their pictures. On our day trip up to Pennsylvania, I even had to stop on the side of the road to let him pee after he told me he needed to go, I was so proud, he could have easily just peed in the pull-up. Things were going great until we went to visit my friend in Northern Virginia. They have a townhouse and though it has a half bath downstairs they use it for storage so the only bathroom available was upstairs and it was an ordeal running up to pee and poop. We almost didn't make it for one poop and there were quite a few times when he had to go and I let him use the kid potty downstairs and he ended up peeing all over the place since he insisted on standing up. Overall things were good until Thursday. Wednesday night Lance started running a fever, he had it off and on on Thursday and Friday. He wasn't eating and drinking a lot and he did not want to go to the potty. Saturday he was finally better and I put him back into underwear after a few days of pull-ups. I had a feeling when we went out that night I should put him in a pull-up, but I ignored it and we went out to dinner and to Target to go shopping. Lance was overdue for a poo and we could tell he would have to go soon based on his holding himself and the look on his face. We kept asking him if he needed to go and he kept saying no. Then he indicated he needed to go and Jeff and him took off for the restroom. Unfortunately, they didn't make it to the toilet in time. Lance pooped all over Jeff, himself, the floor, his shoes, everything. Poor kid, his stomach was upset and he finally had to go and boy did he ever. Jeff took him out to the car to try and clean him off, unfortunately, I had the diapers and wipes and I was in the store waiting for them. Jeff ended up flagging down a friend who came in to find me and I went out to help. We got everyone relatively clean off and decided to head home, I was afraid more diaper explosions would be on their way. We had to drive with the windows done the whole way to keep the smell from his clothes from overwhelming us. As soon as we got home Jeff and Lance took a shower and I washed his clothes and shoes in bleach and hot water, they were gross. Lance has not had any more incidents and has been in diapers or pull-ups all day yesterday and he didn't want to go to the potty, so we are currently digressing, but hopefully we will be diaper-free today and not let our setback ruin our progress.
The transition from diapers to underwear has been a roller coaster. One moment I am proud when he goes without my help to total frustration when I can tell he has to go, suggest he go, offer to help and then he pees on the floor. We are on the home stretch of this adventure and though I know we will have setbacks, I hope we have this mastered.