We potty trained - and you can quote me on this one, we had a blast! We followed Soren's cues and it ended up being really un-stressful and he is so proud of himself. As he should be.
A couple weeks ago, he started talking about the toilet and what goes in 'd'ere'. So, one morning - while Soren refused to wear his diaper, Rick put his seat converter on the toilet and about an hour after I got to work I received a lovely picture of Soren's 'morning constitutional'... in the toilet. Rick said he had gone in, all on his own - and went to the bathroom. Came out - declared 'I pooped! Innnn the toilet!'. And that was that. We started potty training.
Since he is in cloth we went straight to underwear. It didn't take long for him to realize that walking around soiled was no fun. We would set a 'toilet timer' together and check in on him every 20 minutes. Sometimes just practicing sitting on the toilet while reading a few stories (extra book time - everyone wins!). Every toilet success we had was a celebration with high fives and 'great job bubs!! You're SOOOO big!'.
We opted out of candy and toys. We've had a lot of success with simple praises - so we thought we would stick with that and sure enough it worked. After a week and half - Soren started walking in on his own, pulls down his pants and goes to the bathroom. He now moves the stool over and even washes his hands after wiping (and pulling his pants up, of course...). I can't believe it.
The best part about this is how proud he is. And he should be! His attitude towards just about everything has changed now - he is growing even more independent!
I have to say - the whole experience was pretty fun for us too. It is amazing watching little ones figure these things out. Seeing them become their own people with their own ideas. So independent from us.
Next step - using public bathrooms. Like most - he is a bit tentative (but let's be honest, do you like using public restrooms??). So far, he just holds it. But there will come a time we will be away too long! So far, 6-ish days - no accidents (knock on wood).