Catch It While You Can

We are now undergoing 'official' potty training. Last night, we bought a step stool for Ethan, so that he can get on the potty by himself. We discovered this past weekend that he was able to get off the potty by himself, which I was very excited about. Ethan was so excited to be able to take off his underwear, and climb on the potty, like such a big boy. He pretty much entertained himself by climbing on and off for the next 20 minutes. Of course, he also stuck his hand in the potty and splashed, but we cleaned him up, and instructed him that we do not put our hands in the toilet, nor anything else.
As some know, Ethan has been going on the potty since he was about 5 months old. Before he was born, I had heard about a thing called Elimination Communication from my friend Chick. At first I thought it was pretty weird. After all, wasn't I going to be doing enough using cloth diapers instead of disposables? But, my husband was interested, and so I decided to keep an open mind. We did a little bit of research, and Michael and I both remembered hearing about this from Micheal and Debi Pearl in an article years ago. However, I wasn't completely sold, and after Ethan was born was in such a sleep-deprived stupor that the thought really didn't cross my mind at all for a few months.
Then we started Ethan on solid food. Cleaning dirty diapers became quite gross after that, but everyone that I knew took it as a matter of course that this was part of parenting. You just do it. One day, I went to go change Ethan's diaper, and noticed that he was still dry. He hadn't gone in over an hour, and my Mom suggested putting him on the potty. She had read an article on EC, and thought that it was a neat idea, so why not try it? I took one look at the potty, while holding my little 5 month old, and had no idea how I would even put him on it without him falling in. Michael, thankfully, was there, and showed me how to put him on. If I remember correctly, he sat Ethan facing the back of the toilet, and sat behind him to give him support. Low and behold, the next thing I knew, my baby was peeing in the toilet!
Over the next few weeks, we went out and bought I potty seat insert, which helped a lot in Ethan's comfort and ease of having him go. My goal at first was just to have him pee, but naturally he started having bowel movements. We would sing a song, and make a big deal about what a big boy he was being. And he would smile and laugh, and make it look like it was the most natural thing in the world. Soon, I was able to tell his cues, and rarely if ever did I have to change a dirty diaper. I was able to put him on "real" potty seats with no problem, until he hit about a year, and then he would only go on a padded insert. However, that stage only lasted for a few months, and by the time he was 16 months old we could put him on a real potty at church.
He really only went number 2 on the potty, and rarely if ever would I be able to catch him in time to go pee. We've had times of setting timers, but he would usually pee before the timer went off, or just a little would come out, or we wouldn't be able to 'make' him go on the potty. I would take him before nap time, before bed, and when he first woke up in the morning. My goal was to originally have him fully potty trained by Christmas, but then we went to NY for the holidays, and he regressed a bit instead. But, we are home now, and Michael is back to school so our schedule is a bit more normal. I'm planning on 'hunkering down' for the next week, setting my timer, and spending a lot of time in the bathroom.
Any advice would be much appreciated, as I really don't know what I'm doing. At least Ethan's not afraid of the toilet, and he willing goes on it. My biggest thing right now seems to be that when I tell him no to something, he sometimes pees. Some of the questions that I have are should I use diapers at night and when we go out? Or should I just use training pants and make sure to bring a few changes of clothes, and for night, wake him up periodically to take him potty. I don't want my son to continue to wear pull-ups until he's 7, but then again, boys can have a harder time with night wetting, which isn't always a behavior issue. I've been trying to limit his liquid consumption before nap and bedtime, but as of right now its simply head knowledge, and not being implemented.
If anyone if wondering, we have been putting Caleb on the potty since he was about 3 months old, once he 'unfurled' himself, and could actually sit. I've been out of the habit of it though, and since I haven't started him on solids yet, his stool is still really loose and hard to tell when he's about to go. I have been putting him on the potty about once a day for the past week, though, as Michael and I don't want Caleb to have a fear of the potty. I figure that he will eventually get the hang of it, and once he starts solid foods he wll definitely be going on the potty.
No Greater Joy has a few really great articles on this topic. Michael and I try to be very relaxed about it. I've read horror stories of parents in the early 1900's being told to spank their children for not going on the potty. Thats awful. Potty training is not as issue of discipline, and never should be. Really, its more about habit than anything else. We just want our children to know that someday they will not go potty in their pants, and to get them used to that idea as early as possible. 'Catch it while you can' was one of the phrases that I heard for elimination communication, which I think expresses my idealogy on it succinctly.