potty, potty, where on earth is the potty?

Hi All-

Sorry it has been an age (again) but life is busy! Lets see what is new:

1) The pictures above are from Grandma's big Seder and from Easter morning when the Easter Bunny came. As you can see one event was civilized, with dresses and books and the other was a candy free for all lying back in Pajama's with eggs filled with jelly beans. I think this is probably just as it should be. :) 

2) Jane and I FINALLY went on our girl's night away this past weekend and it was soo soo soo fun. It was just what the doctor ordered- Mama was getting a tad cranky between too much work and too much of everything else and spending 26 hours shopping, spaaing and drinking expensive wine with my darling twin was just what I needed to recharge those batteries. Now if only we could find time every 6 months- that would be ideal. :) 

3) The kids are excited that it is finally warm out- we have been riding bikes alot and we opened up the sand table in the backyard. Mama forgot how much dirtier they get in the summer! It is hilarious to see them after they have been in the sand- I am not sure how they get it everywhere but they do! They are so cute and growing like weeds still - I literally think they grow every day. And Nas's hair is turning sort of red which is exciting because as many of you know red hair runs in my family in some blonde shades so I think it is fun that her hair is also turning a bit red. Sasha is still a blonde blonde just like I was when I was little and they both have cute new haircuts. 

4) We are still having some issues with Sasha at swim class. He is not terribly interested in getting in the pool without a parent and last week when Papa went alone he didnt venture in at all. This week we are back to 2 parents going and I am pretty sure I will get him in there but he may not be 100% thrilled about the idea. He just really prefers it if one of us goes in with him but the whole point of this class is for him to actually learn to swim, not to have him float around on Mama so it is important that he moves forward with it. Nas is doing well in her class- last week she floated all by herself and is working on kicking. :) 

Now the big issue (disclaimer: if you are not yet a parent this may be too graphic and TMI for you). 

Sasha is in the midst, still, of potty training. When we came home and he was 27 mos old he was trained, the baby home way- meaning they limited their liquid intake and 3 times a day they sat on potties for 45 minutes and went then or not at all or suffer the consequences, think training by fear. Once home when he realized nothing terrible would happen if he didnt stay dry he decided quickly to revert to being #1 not trained. He has ALWAYS been #2 trained- that goodness. We figured, okay, he is a boy and he is young, no problem and into pull ups he went. This worked well but as he aged we started talking about how he couldnt wear pull ups forever and we decided on his 3rd bday the pull ups would be history. he said he was okay with this and for the last couple months in pull ups he never even went in them during the day- at all. We thought he was sooo ready. We talked about it, read about it, sang a little song about it etc. So on his bday into big kid underoos he went. It has been both good and bad. This kid will stay dry for 3+ weeks and everything will be going swimmingly and we will think, well YAY, we are finally done and then all of a sudden (yesterday) he will have 3 accidents in one day. This has happened a couple different days since we have gone to underwear FT- multiple multiple accidents in one day. Thankfully all of his accidents are #1 accidents only - I would not know what to do if otherwise....It is so weird- he knows what to do, literally he will be completely trained for a month or so and then boom, all hell breaks loose. We talk about it and he says he doesnt know why he goes in his pants sometimes and doesnt know why it happens multiple times in one day and he doesnt feel bad about it in any way (though I have tried to make him understand it is not cool, he doesnt seem to care)- it is incredibly frustrating. A couple times he has even said he has to pee, gone into the bathroom and stood there and peed in his pants - so it isnt that he is getting distracted and doesnt realize he is peeing or something like that. Any ideas? And candy doesnt work for him - he could care less about that too. I am not sure if it is some sort of control thing or some sort of plea for more attention those days or what - we have tried everything- snuggles, talking, demanding he stop, pretending it was not a big deal, making a huge deal out of it- everything! Any advice?