Okay, so here is my shout out for some great mom-tips/advice. 
I know we’re all bursting with it and ready to overflow on any unsuspecting soul who might find themselves in a sticky parenting situation. Well, now’s your chance! I’m actually ASKING for some advice because I’ve totally run out of ideas on my own.
Qade has been potty training for nearly a YEAR now, and while the older and wiser might think that’s not that long or even think that’s way TOO LONG (I’d agree with that last one for sure!) we were making great progress recently as I bragged about in this post. However the past week or week and a half we have MAJORLY digressed. 
This does not make me happy! Qade has been pooping in his unders on a daily basis and while he doesn’t totally soak himself, he certainly isn’t staying dry either. I’m not really sure why this is happening, but rather than get into all the psychology of it at this point, I’d like to know if anyone has experienced similar issues with their ‘training’ tots and if so what you did to get over the hurtle. PLEASE send suggestions, cause like I said I’m pretty much at the end of my resources for this one.
Some of what I’ve been doing with him is expressing my disappointment that he isn’t acting like a big boy. Making him clean up his own mess. Putting him in “plastics” with no unders as a consequence for messing his unders and taking away privileges like playing preschool games on the iPad, which he absolutely LOVES to do. I realize these are all negative consequences. I’m batting about the idea of bringing back a type of reward system (stickers/treats) for the “successes” but it still feels like we’re going backwards. I don’t know.
Thoughts???
Oh, I wish I could help! I’m in my first time potty training our little one, so I don’t really know. We’ve definitely found the reward system to work pretty well. We first tried potty training after his 1st birthday and I only did the negatives, giving him time out for pitching a fit on the potty, taking away movie time when he didn’t let me know he was ready to ‘go’ in his diaper…. it was a disaster, but that’s because I didn’t read anything on it and tried to do my own thing. I know you, on the contrary, read up on mostly everything you do with your kids and that’s a good thing. Anyway, it totally ruined our chances that first year and it was an entire year (yep, after his 2nd birthday) before he would even go back into the bathroom again without throwing a fit because I had made it such a miserable thing for him. Now, I gently remind him he needs to tell Mama or Daddy when he needs to go, but otherwise I don’t dwell on it but focus on the positives. Rewarding him with extra playtime or movie time helped at first but I think the novelty wore off and now we’ve been at a stand still for months. So, someone recommended the pull ups with the designs that fade and I’m already seeing a big improvement because he’s trying to keep the nice design from ‘going bye bye’. But when they fade because he’s soiled his diaper, I just remind him to tell Mama and Daddy he needs to potty and we go change him. When it’s our set potty time, we go but not before then unless he asks. I only take him maybe 5 scheduled times a day now and it seems to be working better because a year ago I was dragging the poor kid to the potty every hour on the hour. No wonder I traumatized him. But now, along with his Japanese potty training video, he loves sitting on the potty and when the timer goes off, he gets down, puts his seat away, flushes, washes hands and we go back to our day. Biggest thing for us is no pressure and LOTS of praise but that’s my own fault for making it like a boot camp before. This probably doesn’t help, but it’s the only experience I’ve got
Oh, and he also seems to be progressing because he earns stickers now for potty and we tell him when the entire chart is filled he’ll get a special treat with Mama and Daddy. So he seems really excited about that. Love you, I hope you find the perfect unique combo for your wonderful boy!
Thanks Kilika! I’m sure you’ll do well this time around!
We did the reward system with M&M’s and sticker charts and a BIG prize for when he finally pooped in the potty! Those have gradually been fading out because, let’s face it, I don’t want to have to give him M&M’s every time he pee’s till he’s 12!! 
The problem I’m having now is that we’ve been past all that preliminary stuff for quite some time, but now he is obviously choosing NOT to go in the potty because we know he can and HAS done it consistently. That’s why I’m struggling with the idea of bringing back special rewards. I don’t want him to “digress” every time we don’t give him something for going on the pot. Does that make any sense? I don’t know, maybe I’m making it too “deep” of an issue, and bringing back certain rewards, perhaps a DAILY reward for staying clean and dry rather than a reward for each successful trip. Now that’s a thought. 
Oh, and Qade does have pull-ups with the fading designs and doesn’t give a flip about if they fade. *sigh* Glad your little lad thinks those designs are important!
So sorry you are still having trouble. I don’t know exactly what to tell you since all that you have done is what worked with my kids. A big thing I always try at first is to not make it a big deal when they have an accident. BUT, I think Qade knows better by now, so it may be another issue. Are you taking him consistently throughout the day? Is there a “set” time that he tends to poop? I know that I watched my kids before I ever started training and learned their natural cycle, and then I knew when we for sure needed to go to the potty and when I could just wait for them to tell me. I would suggest a daily reward system – whatever it is. Maybe make it something so special that he never gets so it otherwise is different. Not toys or anything, but some extra special candy like gummy bears or tootsie rolls (those worked with my sister!). One thing I think of about his taking a few steps back is the fact that you are 9 months pregnant and I bet he can sense change coming. I know that I saw that with my kids. When I was close to the end, they started acting up more and being just plain bad, but really I think it was their way of getting my attention and maybe even showing their insecurities (Ooops, sorry, I just remembered you didn’t want to get all psycological!).
Again, I still stick to my cold turkey method – no diapers, pull-ups, etc. But that is just me. Maybe if you don’t make a huge deal of it, he will see that it isn’t getting him the attention he may want, and he will stop. Then, when he does go on the potty, make the biggest deal you can about it. That may help him with the attention thing.
I am sure you are doing the best you can. And don’t get yourself TOO stressed about it, as you all have a big adjustment coming very soon, and things are all going to be a little off for a while, anyways. Just know that many have been there before you and they got through it and you can too! Oh, and if it is any consolation, my sis-in-law, Nikki has had the same problem with Kole. Maybe she has some advice for you!
I wish Qade would be consistent in his potty patterns. He was back BEFORE we started potty training, and I was all excited that I’d know when to put him on the pot. But then he started “holding” it and would wait till he got a pull-up on at nap or bedtime to poop. Arg!!! I do put him in pull-ups at night, just because I’m lazy and do NOT want to change bedding every day. He had been keeping dry in his unders during nap, but now that has digressed as well so I make him wear plastic pants over them. I know that he knows the difference between his unders and the pull-ups and that he feels “okay” going in the pull-ups which is why I don’t use them except for bed. I hadn’t been taking him potty for quite some time, though I often do tell him to go, and he WAS taking the initiative to go on his own by himself when he needed to. Now it’s just not happening and I have started to tell him to go whenever we change activities to try and keep him dry. Still today he did poop in his unders right after I had sent him to the potty, so dunno what’s up with that!
I’m sure you are right, Emily, about the stress of new baby coming and all. His behavior has taken a nose dive recently and this is probably just another by product of all of that. Still, it’s totally unacceptable in my way of thinking.
As far as the daily reward, I’m contemplating getting one of those little cheap gumball machines and putting some other candy type thing in it. I don’t let him have gum yet! And then he can earn pennies by staying dry and then cash them in at the end of the day. We’ll see….
Ooo.. gumball machine is a great idea! I might even try that with my kids and their behavior in other areas…(My kids don’t even know what gum is yet! HA!
That gumball machine idea is pretty cool! I get what you mean about not wanting to give him more rewards when he’s been past the reward thing for every potty trip. I hadn’t thought about that! And now I’m totally intrigued about what Emily said about natural cycles and going cold turkey. Hmmm… must look it up.
I couldn’t do the entire “cold turkey” concept because I’m lazy and HATE to change bedding. We did go straight to unders in the beginning, but even then I had SOOOO much mess to clean up that it was maddening! SO we invested in some of those plastic “pants” they can wear over undies. That way he still could feel uncomfy in his “mess” but it was totally contained so I didn’t have to worry about scrubbing floors, carpets and furniture constantly.
The past couple of days have been good potty wise. We’ve been talking to Qade a LOT about being a big boy and keeping dry and he seems to be trying a little more!