A whole stinking bunch of steps back

Liam had been doing really well with the whole toilet training thing. We'd been cruising along with only a very occasional accident blip on the radar from time to time. All was well. You notice I'm using the past tense, right? That all came to a halt this weekend, when Liam wet his pants on Saturday morning, did it again Sunday afternoon, and this morning I got an email from Chad to say he did it yet again as they were heading out the door to Cindy's.

When Chad told Liam that wetting his pants was wrong, he replied that Mallory does it. The times when Liam is wetting his pants are generally times when he is alone, and at first we'd thought that he was doing it because there was nobody there to help him get to the toilet, but now I think we have deduced that the times he's doing it are times when we are actually busy with Mallory - i.e. she is getting the attention and him - not so much.

This was further driven home when we realized that although Liam loves to get dressed on his own these days, he is always insistent that we help him change his clothes after he has an accident. More one-on-one attention from us. More positive reinforcement for something he shouldn't be doing. STINKER.

So... our action plan is this: haul his butt off to the toilet 20 times a day if we have to, to ensure it's not happening because he simply can't hold it any longer. And if and when he pees his pants again, he is going to be responsible for getting himself cleaned up and changing his own clothes. I will clean the floor behind him if need be, but only after he's gone off to get some dry clothes and put the dirty ones in the hamper. We're going to see to it that he doesn't get any attention as part of the deal.

Once again I say... the fact that this challenge has reared its head at the same time that we're trying to sell our house, and are constantly cleaning it up for showings? Not so convenient.