So, followers of my tweet feed already know that my family took a day-trip yesterday – I’ll write a review tomorrow on that.  However, most notably, we made it through most of the day without a bathroom accident on the Monster’s part.

In both cases, though, there was a definite step forward in a minor way – he verbally told us that he had to go.

Usually, we’re watching for him doing his equivalent of the potty-dance, which usually is him playing with the front of his pants and squeezing a bit.  Since he also seems to do this when he’s nervous or stressed, it usually requires us asking him if he needs to go, which usually gets a ‘NO!’, and then requires an evaluation of how long we think it’s been since he’s gone last and how much he’s had to drink, and still ends up with us dragging him to the bathroom.

Now, the first time was wholly our fault for not paying attention, and while he tried to get to the bathroom in time, he failed.  No harm, no foul, we were at home and had extra clothes standing by.

The second time, we were in the car on the way back from Hersheypark, and he announced that he had to go to the bathroom as we were coming up on an exit… with no facilities listed on the big blue signs.  We had to, therefore, continue until we got to the next exit, looking for a bathroom.  (In retrospect, we probably should have pulled over almost immediately and hustled him over a guardrail to do his business on the side of the road, but… hindsight is 20/20.)  By the time we got to a bathroom, he’d wet himself.  (Again, we’d prepped and had clothes, but it’s still unpleasant to take a wet child into a public restroom.)

Still, the fact that he’s actually telling us verbally is a good thing and a step forward.  I’m not sure that this is going to be repeatable any time soon – save when it gets to the potty-emergency phase – but it’s better than us having to watch him in the car and see if he’s fidgeting.

Next phase – getting him to realize that he needs to tell us sooner that he needs to go…